Hearts of Men
by twenty3
Summary: Their friendship was slowly being torn apart until they both just gave up on each other. But when their lives are in greater danger than they ever thought possible, what will it take for them to trust each other again and make it out alive?
1. Given Up

Warrick followed Nick into the locker room. Before the younger of the two reached his locker, Warrick grabbed his arm and turned him so they were face to face. 

"What's up with you man?" Warrick asked, trying to keep the edge out of his voice.

"I don't care." Nick responded.

"What do you mean?"

"I just don't care about anything anymore. Nothing matters. I'm sick of everything. You were right when you said that this isn't the right town for me. I wanna just disappear or something. I don't care what happens to me at all."

Warrick got even madder at that. "That doesn't give you the right to yell at Brass or the suspect or me. We were just trying to get the case solved as quickly as possible, just like you were. You got out of hand real fast Nick."

Nick sighed and sank down onto the bench. He knew Warrick was right. The case had taken a toll on the Texan. It had involved a kidnapping turned to murder with a ten-year-old boy as the helpless victim. The killer didn't think he had done anything wrong and everything added together had just made Nick snap. He was over tired and over worked, which wasn't a good combination for him at all.

"I know...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take it out on you guys." Nick apologized. Warrick sat down next to his best friend as the other man ran his hand through his hair. "I don't think I can do this anymore."

"Nick...don't." Warrick said.

Nick shook his head. "I'm serious. I can't deal with all of this anymore. I still can't even get over the fucking Walter Gordon thing. I can barely ever sleep because I keep having the same nightmare over and over again. I think it'd be best if I just got outta here."

"No, it wouldn't. Because wherever you went, you wouldn't have your friends around you to help you with whatever came up. I know it's rough man, but you can't just ran away from everything."

"No, you don't know." Nick said as he looked at Warrick. "You have no idea." He said angrily. "Everyone always says that. That they're sorry for me and know how I feel whenever something bad happens to me. But no one ever really knows how I feel. I don't even know how I feel."

"Then let us help yo-" Warrick was cut off mid-sentence.

"I don't want help. I don't want your sympathy anymore. I'm sick of having to rely on other people to help me. Look...I'm sorry I yelled at you and Brass earlier. You didn't deserve it, I just lost it. But that's how I am now."

Warrick nodded slightly in agreement. "You're not the same person you were before Nick." He said softly.

"You think I don't know that? You aren't either. You still sneak around and go gambling and pretend that everything's okay with Tina when all you really want to do is be with Catherine. But you're just as scared as I am of changing things."

Warrick wanted to argue that, but he knew Nick was right, so decided to pick another fight with him instead. "So that's your excuse? You're afraid now?"

"I've been afraid since I was a kid." Nick said harshly, referring to his horrible incident with his babysitter when he was only nine.

"I don't think that's it. I think you're just-"

Nick cut Warrick off again. "Don't tell me what to do, and don't tell me how I feel." He rose from the bench and instead of going to his locker, he went in the opposite direction and out the door of the locker room. He left behind Warrick, who was still sitting on the bench and was even more pissed at his best friend than he had ever been before.

* * *

Nick walked out of the crime lab into the heat of the morning. He ignored his headache that only got worse every second that passed and made his way to his car as quickly as possible. Once inside, he turned the AC on full blast and sat back, allowing the cold air to rush over him and slightly ease his throbbing head. He took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves, but it didn't work in the least. 

He tried not to think about his latest fight with his best friend, but couldn't stop the thoughts from flowing through his mind. They had become more frequent and were gradually getting worse and worse. Ever since his kidnapping, everything seemed like it had just been going downhill. He didn't exaclty know why, although he knew it had something to do with the fact that it could have been either him or Warrick down there and that had certainly strained their friendship. But even if he knew the exact reason why, he wouldn't know how to fix it.

Nick sighed and started his car. He pulled out of the parking lot and drove back to his home, thinking the entire way about how he was slowly losing his best friend.

* * *

Warrick would have punched his locker if Catherine hadn't walked in, inturrupting his plans. Instead he just sighed and fell back against the lockers behind him. 

"What's wrong?" She asked as she sat down next to him.

"Nick." Warrick said simply.

Catherine nodded in understanding. Everyone had noticed the two friends becoming less and less like their normal selves. They barely ever joked around anymore and instead all they seemed to want to do was fight with each other. It wasn't easy to see, and no one really understood what had caused the change in the two good friends.

"What's up with you two lately?"

Warrick shrugged. "I don't know. It's still weird because of the whole Walter Gordon thing. It could have just as easily been me, and we both know that. We just keep getting on each other's nerves and I don't know how to stop it. I don't even think I want to. Maybe we were never that good of friends to begin with."

"That's not true." Catherine said, shaking her head slowly. "You guys have been best friends for as long as I can remember. What's happened recently has been rough on both of you. But that's not an excuse not to be friends anymore."

"I'm gonna try to talk to him. Maybe we can straighten this whole thing out. I guess it's worth a shot."

Warrick slowly left the locker room soon after and headed off to Nick's house in hopes of making amends.

* * *

Nick didn't move from the couch when he heard the knock at the door. He didn't take his eyes away from the TV show he was watching, even though he didn't know the name of it or what was going on. All he did was take another pull from his beer and call out to the person on the other side. 

"It's open." He said.

The door opened and Warrick stepped in. Nick didn't look over to see who it was because he knew who it was before there was even a knock at the door. He had known Warrick would come over half way through their case when they had gotten into yet another fight. The one during the case had been totally Nick's fault. But in the locker room had been a different story. They had pissed each other off, and things weren't looking too good for them at the moment.

"We gotta talk Nick." Warrick said as he sat down on the chair opposite Nick.

Nick turned off the TV and finally looked over at Warrick. "Fine." Was all he said.

"What's going on?"

Nick knew exactly what Warrick meant. He shrugged because he honestly didn't know the answer. "Your guess is as good as mine. It probably has something to do with the fact that I almost died two years ago and you keep blaming yourself for it."

Warrick stared at Nick for a second. "Do _you_ blame me for it?"

"No. You didn't know what was gonna happen. No one did. It's just hard to handle and neither one of us has gotten over it yet."

Warrick looked down at the floor and shook his head slowly. "I may not know exactly how you feel, but you had no idea how watching you like that felt. The only thing I could do was try to yell at you through a computer screen not to kill yourself. I still feel like I'm doing that, just not through a screen anymore."

Nick was still looking at Warrick. "So what do you want me to do? Pretend I'm okay so we can both go back to being normal and not scared to death of every little thing that threatens us in any way? I don't know what to do, and neither do you. I don't care, and I highly doubt you do either."

Warrick looked up. "I do care. I wish there was more I could do to help you through this, but you won't let me anymore. We've both changed a great deal since it happened, but it doesn't have to be for the worst. It doesn't have to be like this."

"Then how do you propose we fix it? By all means, if you have any ideas let's hear 'em. Because I have nothing other than this is how we are now and there's nothing we can do to stop it."

"That doesn't mean we just give up. You're not making this any easier Nick."

Nick sighed. "Sorry I can't stop myself from being an ass. It's hard to control how you act when all you've been thinking about for the last two years is the fact that you should be dead."

"That's not true. We got to you. We saved you. You're here, you're okay. You didn't die, so stop acting like you did."

It was Nick's turn to look down at the floor. His brown eyes fell from Warrick's green ones and he refused to bring them back up. He no longer knew what to say or do anymore, so he just fell silent and waited for Warrick to say something else.

"Things can't get better if you don't try to fix them. Nothing will change if you give up."

Nick dragged his eyes up from the floor to Warrick's again. "I give up. I don't know what else to do. I should have given up a long, long time ago."


	2. Down and Out

Warrick absolutely hated the feeling he got when he didn't know where Nick was. As much as he was mad at him right now, he still wanted to make sure Nick was safe. He had called the Texan's cell phone three times, getting the voice mail on each one. Even if Nick didn't want to talk to him, Warrick knew he would have at least answered the phone and told him to leave him alone. But he hadn't answered at all. They both had the night off, so Warrick hoped it was just because Nick was asleep and his phone was in the other room. 

Unable to convince himself that that was the case, Warrick went out looking for Nick. He drove around aimlessly until he finally spotted Nick's car in the parking lot of one of the new bars on the strip. Warrick pulled in and parked his car before hopping out and heading into the bar to find Nick. Once inside, he scanned all the people three or four times before he was satisfied that Nick wasn't inside. He sighed and walked up to the bartender to see if he knew where he was.

"Excuse me...have you seen a guy around here with black hair, he's a little shorter and skinnier than me with pretty tan skin?"

The bartender nodded. "Yeah...I think his name is Nick, right?"

"Yeah, that's him. Is he here?"

The bartender jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "I'm pretty sure he's out in the back parking lot. A couple guys started a kind of 'fight club' a couple weeks ago. They buy a bunch of beer then go out there. I'm almost positive you can find Nick there."

"Thanks man." Warrick said before heading out of the bar in the direction the bartender had told him Nick would be.

Warrick walked through the back door into the parking lot in the back of the bar. There were only a few cars parked in the front row. Other than that, it was completely deserted. Warrick sighed again and turned to go back inside but stopped when he heard the ragged sound of someone coughing harshly off to his right. He walked around the last car in the row and saw Nick sitting with his back against the brick wall of the bar. He had a beer bottle in his hand and several others scattered around him. His face and arms were bruised and cut up. There was a pool of blood near his left foot. Warrick could see blood in between his teeth and could only guess that the sound he had heard before was Nick coughing up blood and spitting it from his mouth.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Warrick asked as he kneeled down in front of Nick.

"Having a drink. Want one?" He offered, extending his hand out to his friend.

Warrick shook his head, but grabbed the bottle from Nick. "No, and you're not having any more either. What happened to you man?"

Nick shrugged. "Nothing. Me and a couple other guys here just found a good way to blow off steam. It's not a big deal, relax."

"This isn't a movie Nick. You can seriously get yourself hurt. And since when do you drink so God damn much?" Nick just stared at Warrick blankly. "This isn't good for you, you gotta knock it off before you end up in a hospital."

Nick responded by pulling a pack of cigarettes out of the back pocket of his jeans along with a lighter. He lit the cigarette and took a drag of it before blowing the smoke out of his mouth and into Warrick's face.

"Hopefully I'll be dead before I even make it to the hospital."

Warrick was growing impatient. "Stop fucking around Nick!" He yelled. "What's gotten into you? You've always been able to handle anything."

"That was before I almost killed myself and had to see my best friend blame himself for it every single day after I got out. That was before I had to think about what I would have done if it had been you instead of me. That was before I had to live with the fact that three people ended up dying because of me. I could handle anything when I was alive. But I should be dead."

"If you were supposed to have died down there, you would have. But you didn't because that's not how it was supposed to be." Warrick said.

Nick shook his head. "That doesn't change how I think or feel about what happened. That doesn't change the fact that I was seconds away from killing myself."

Warrick gripped Nick's arms with his strong hands. "You're never gonna get over this if you keep thinking like that. You can't move on if you don't think that you were rescued for a reason. We got you out safely and you're still here. That counts for something."

Nick lit another cigarette. "Not much." He said softly. "Things like that change a person forever. I can't be who I was before because I've given up on ever being happy. I gave up on caring. I'm sick of you asking me if I'm okay and trying to make me be okay. I'm never gonna be okay."

"Why?" Warrick asked.

"Because you gave up too." Nick almost yelled. "I saw it in your eyes when you brushed away all the dirt and saw me with the gun. You told me to put it down, but your eyes didn't. I could see it in your eyes that you had given up on the fact that I could pull through it alive. You gave up on me."

Warrick stood up. "If I gave up on you, then what do you think I'm still doing here?" He asked angrily.

"Trying to fix me so you won't feel so guilty all the time."

Warrick scoffed at that. "What makes you think I feel guilty about what happened to you? It wasn't my fault, I didn't tell him to bury you and leave you for dead. Why should I feel guilty?"

Nick stood up slowly and took a second to stand firmly. "If you don't, then what's the reason for the way you've been acting around me since then? You act like I'll break if you get too close to me or say the wrong thing. You've been acting like you were the one who put me down there, not the reason I got out."

Warrick wanted to walk away, but he was glued to the spot by Nick's glare. "Would it make you feel better about yourself if I did feel guilty about it? Would that make you stop acting like such a wreckless jackass?"

"Maybe. But it probably wouldn't make you feel better about it, so to be safe why don't you make sure to stop by a couple casinos on your way back to the wife you don't love and place some bets to blow off the steam I keep making you build up."

That did it. Warrick was so frustrated and pissed off at Nick that he couldn't stop himself from reaching back and throwing his fist forward into Nick's already bruised face as hard as he could. Nick stumbled back a couple steps until his back hit the wall, and then he was slowly sliding down it at an angle until he reached the cold, wet ground. He somehow managed to hold himself up and looked up at Warrick.

Neither one of them said anything. They just coldly stared at each other, trying to figure out what to do. Warrick tried to ignore the throbbing in his hand and wished he didn't know the reason for it being there. After a few minutes, he shook his head slowly and sighed heavily. He turned and walked away from Nick, past the parked cars and over to the door he had come through not too long ago. He didn't look back until he reached the door. When he glanced over his shoulder at Nick, he saw the faint glow of another cigarette and watched as the Texan slowly laid down on the ground so he was flat on his back with his knees slightly back. He watched as Nick blew smoke from his mouth once more before opening the door and walking through it, leaving the deafening silence behind him.

* * *

After a sleepless night, Warrick found himself standing on Nick's doorstep. He knocked twice and waited patiently to be answered. It didn't take long for Nick to slowly open the door. When he did, Warrick could honestly say he hadn't expected Nick to look as bad as he did. His face was still bruised and cut up, as was his arms and bare chest. His eyes were bloodshot. His knees were shaking and Warrick noticed that he was wearing the same jeans he had been the night before. 

"I just uh...wanted to make sure you got home okay." Warrick said, trying to lighten the mood of the situation.

"They have phone for that kind of thing." Nick said. He turned around and walked back into his house. He left the door open, so Warrick entered and closed it behind him.

"Well you didn't answer it last night when I was trying to find out where you were, so I figured I'd just be better off coming right over here." He followed Nick over to the couch and sat down next to him.

Nick sniffed a couple times before slowly closing his eyes and leaning back into the leather couch. "That's a good point." He said. His voice was scratchy and didn't sound like Nick's. "I'm fine though, so if that's all you wanted you can go."

Warrick sighed. He ran his hand over his face as he looked around him. His eyes scanned over Nick's normally clean living room. DVDs, CDs and magazines were scattered in various places. Beer bottles were covering almost every flat surface that wasn't already occupied. Warrick's eyes finally landed on the coffee table in front of him. He didn't want to believe what he saw, but it suddenly explained Nick's current state.

"Nick...please tell me that's not what I think it is." Warrick said, still staring at the white powdery substance on the coffee table. "Honeslty..."

Nick opened his eyes. He followed Warrick's gaze and nodded when he saw what he was talking about. Nick sat up and looked at Warrick. "Well, do you want me to be honest or do you want me to tell you that it's not cocaine?"

"You're kidding me, right?"

"No, unfortunately not. I'm trying to mellow out...be more like my old self. This seems to be working I think."

Warrick tore his eyes away from the drugs and looked at Nick. "Cocaine? That's your solution for everything? You can't keep taking that stuff man, it'll kill ya."

"That's sorta the point." Nick mumbled.

Warrick shook his head slowly. "Why are you doing this to yourself?"

Nick didn't have a good answer for that question. He honestly didn't know why he was acting the way he was. He guessed he was just trying to make all the pain that had built up over the last two years just go away. That was part of it, but not why entriely. No, there was something else digging at him that he doubted would ever fully go away.

Instead of trying to explain all that to Warrick, Nick just shrugged. "I don't know. But it seems to be working."

Warrick ignored Nick's half ass explanantion. "You need to stop. I'm serious, you can't keep doing this. Do you have any idea what this what do to everyone if one day you just don't come into work and later we find you dead in your house from an overdose? I know that you've changed, but you're never gonna be that selfish. You would never do that to the people that love you."

Nick hung his head. "I don't want to stop."

"I don't care, you're gonna."

Nick picked his head back up and looked at Warrick. "Normally I'd listen to you. But now it's just like we're going through the motions, ya know? You don't really care about me anymore. You have a different, better life and want as little to do with me as possible. It's okay, I understand. Just stop pretending to care."

Warrick's eyes were locked with Nick's. He couldn't have looked away if he had tried his hardest. He thought about what Nick had just said and tried to convince himself that he was wrong. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Ever since he had gotten married, him and Nick spent less time together. He had stopped worrying so much about whether or not Nick was okay and focused all his energy on keeping his marriage from falling apart. But now their friendship was falling apart, and it seemed like nothing was going to keep it from ending in complete disaster.

"You want me to just give up on you?" Warrick asked.

"You already have. Just admit to it and make this a helluva lot easier for both of us."

Warrick stood up quickly. "Fuck you Nick!" He yelled. "I never gave up on you. If I had, I would have let you blow your brains out. But I still wanted you around. The old you, not this." He said, motioning to the cocaine lying off to his right.

Nick stood up as well. "You know damn well you've changed as much as I have and this is as much your fault as it is mine. We both fucked up."

"So that makes it okay for you to be an alcoholic and start doing drugs? That's a completely different change than me and you know it."

"No it's not." Nick said, shaking his head. "I use alcohol and drugs, and you use gambling. Different things, but for the same reason."

Warrick threw his hands up in the air. "Fine. You win. I give up on trying to keep you alive. I can't stop you from self-destructing, so I give up. Are you happy?"

Nick shrugged slightly. "No, but it's a start."


	3. Best Wishes

Warrick got even madder at Nick when he found himself talking to Catherine about his fall out with his best friend instead of his wife of almost two years. But he pushed that to the back of his mind and went on telling Catherine about what had happened at the bar and then at Nick's house. She was in a state of shock and remained completely silent, listening to Warrick intently the entire time. 

"Wow." Was all she could manage to say after Warrick had finished.

"I know. I mean, he has a point and everything. What he went through wasn't easy, we all know that. But do you think it's enough to cause such a sudden and dramatic change in him? It's Nick...I never thought he'd be like this."

Catherine shook her head. "Me either. It must be how he's trying to cope with it I guess. It's gotta be hard to deal with almost dying. It's happened to Nick three times in the last couple years. There's only so much a person can take."

"I understand that, but it doesn't make it okay for him to act the way he is and shut me out. I'm trying to help him. He needs help. He just won't accept any."

"You can't help someone who doesn't want it." Catherine said. "Just give him some time, maybe it's all he needs."

* * *

Catherine had been wrong about Nick just needing time. As the days wore on, the tension between Nick and Warrick only got worse. They fought and yelled at each other so much that Grissom couldn't let them work together on cases. When they did run in to each other at the lab, they had to be kept apart so they wouldn't try to kill each other.

Things just kept going from bad to worse.

A few months after their fight at Nick's house, Nick was in the garage processing a Mercedes. He had been over the entire interior of the car and found nothing. He wasn't having much luck on the under carriage ethier. Processing the car brought him to the end of his shift, so Nick gave the trace he had found to Hodges and headed for the locker room. If he had known Warrick was in there, he probably wouldn't have gone in. But he had no way of knowing Warrick was there until he had walked in and over to his locker, and by that time it was too late.

Neither one of them said anything. They just locked eyes and glared at each other as if they had hated each other since the day they met. All remnaints of their friendship was gone and was replaced by hatred that they couldn't control or understand. Nick shook his head slowly and opened his locker as Warrick turned back to his.

"How's the coke habbit going?" Warrick asked.

"Better than your life with Tina." Nick countered.

Warrick laughed humorlessly. "You think you know me so well. I'm happy with her. I love her, that's why I married her jackass."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night man." Nick said.

Warrick slammed his locker shut before he slammed Nick's as well, almost getting Nick's left wrist caught in between the metal. Nick didn't flinch or even move at all. He only moved his eyes from whatever he was doing in his locker to Warrick's eyes.

"Is that you asking for an apology?" Nick asked.

"No, that's me having enough of you. Why do you have to be such a jerk? Why can't we just ignore each other?"

"You're the one that picked this fight, not me."

Warrick realized that Nick was right, which again only made him more pissed off. "We wouldn't be fighting at all if you would just knock it off and go back to normal."

"I'm sorry I can't just change back because you want me to. If I could, believe me I would. But I can't. Almost suffocating in a glass box six feet under is bound to change someone. I wish I could be like you and just pretend it never happened, but I can't."

"I don't pretend it didn't happen. Do you really think I could just forget the fact that I almost saw my best friend die right in front of my eyes?" Warrick asked.

Nick shrugged. "I guess so, because you sure acted like it after. I can't really blame you though. Just forgetting about it like everyone else did seemed like the best thing to do. Except I couldn't forget no matter how much medicine I took or how many other things I did to try and keep my mind off it. Nothing worked. Nothing will ever work. I'm stuck thinking about that for the rest of my life. I'm stuck thinking about how I left myself down there."

"You don't have to give up that easy Nick."

"What else am I supposed to do? Let you guys help me? I appreciate all you tried to do for me, but it wasn't helping and was just making everything worse. Maybe if you had just backed off we would still be friends."

Warrick grabbed two hand fulls of Nick's grey t-shirt near the shoulders and pinned him up against the lockers. "Stop trying to blame this all on me. It wasn't my fault you got kidnapped. It wasn't my fault Gordon buried you alive. I didn't want that to happen."

"You're just starting to really believe that aren't you?"

Warrick pulled Nick forward slightly before slamming him back again. "Because it's true!" He yelled. "I would have traded places with you if I could have."

Nick's eyes narrowed slightly. "Would you?" He shook his head slowly. "Because I don't think you would have. You saw me down there and what I was going through. Yeah, you wanted to get me out. But you didn't want that to be you. You were relieved you won that coin toss and it wasn't you down there. It wasn't easy to live with, but it was easier than being down there."

Warrick let go of Nick's shirt with his right hand so he could punch him in the face. After doing that, he slammed him into the lockers again to try and get him to shut up. He couldn't listen to what he was saying because he knew Nick was right. Everything he was saying reminded Warrick of how he had felt when he had watched Nick on the screen. He had wanted nothing more than to save his best friend. Warrick had felt guilty because it could just as easily been him down there.

"Maybe I shouldn't have let you win that coin toss." Nick said, breaking Warrick out of his thoughts.

Warrick shook his head slowly. "What?"

"It wasn't heads. I let you take the other case because you_ were_ my best friend and that's what friends do. But even knowing the outcome, I might still have let you win so you wouldn't have had to go through that hell. Or maybe I wouldn't have."

It was then, looking into Nick's eyes and letting what he said sink in, that Warrick realized he hadn't been fighting back against Warrick punching him and slamming him into the lockers. He hadn't even so much as struggled against his grip. Warrick slammed Nick back again to see if he would do anything, but he didn't.

On the other hand, Grissom and Greg had heard them arguing from the hallway and had come into the locker room to stop them. Upon seeing Warrick looking like he was about to murder Nick, they both ran over and broke them up. Grissom grabbed Warrick's hands and pulled them away from Nick's shirt. At the same time, Greg grabbed Nick's shoulders and pulled him away from the lockers.

"I wish we never found you. I wish you were still down there in that box." Warrick said angrily.

"Yeah, well I wish I had pulled the trigger right in front of you when I had the chance. I should have just killed myself."

"Go to hell Nicky!"

"I'm already there Warrick."

Grissom was beyond mad. "Enough!" He yelled louder than any of the men in the room had heard him yell before. "Both of you cut it out right now or I'll suspend you. You're adults, and this is how you behave?" Warrick and Nick were silent. "Greg, get him out of here."

Greg nodded and pulled Nick gently out of the locker room and down the hall into the break room. Once inside, Nick went over to the table and sat down. He slammed his fist down on the table top before resting his head in his other hand. Greg sat down across from him and although he wasn't sure what to do, he figured he should say something.

"I've never seen either one of you like this."

Nick looked up at Greg. "It's been kind of a recent theme I guess."

Greg shook his head. "It sucks. Before you guys hated each other, you were such good friends. No matter what was going on, you guys would always be laughing and joking around. Everyone loved it because it would always brighten their day to see you two like that. But I guess we don't have that anymore. Not that either one of you care."

Greg stood slowly and left the break room, leaving Nick sitting alone at the table. He thought about how drastically his life had changed in the past two years. It seemed surreal that so much could happen in such a short time. It seemed even more surreal when Nick thought about the fact that he shouldn't be alive right now.

He had been so close to ending it. _So damn close_.

* * *

I know in the episode 'Grave Danger' when they showed the coin toss Warrick looked at it and saw that he had won. But for the purpose of this story, I changed that.

Thanks for the reviews, they're greatly appreciated. Next chapter should be up soon.


	4. Blast From the Past

Nick was barely listening to the song on the radio while he was driving to the crime scene out in Summerville that Grissom had sent him to. He had to do this case by himself because the only other option was working with Warrick, and that wasn't going to happen. For the last month neither one of them had said a single word to each other. They exchanged glares in the hallway when they rarely passed each other, but that was it. Grissom wasn't allowing them to work together because he, along with everyone else, was sick of the way they were acting. 

So it was just Nick on the case tonight. Detective Vartann was waiting for him out at the house with the 419. But Nick never made it that far.

He was turning onto the on ramp that would take him to the exit he needed to take when he heard the gunshots. He quickly glanced in his mirrors to see where they had come from, but he didn't have time to find out. His right front tire blew, causing the vehicle to veer to the right towards the trees on the side of the highway. Nick was then forced to jerk the car to the left when he was blinded by the oncoming headlights headed right for him.

The left front tire hit the curb, and due to the speed of the vehicle and sudden impact, the car flipped on it's side before rolling over a few times before finally coming to a stop with the driver's side pressed against the ground. Nick had luckily been wearing his seatbelt like he always does so he wasn't badly hurt. He was just bruised and bloody from the cuts the shards of glass had inflicted on his skin. Before he even had time to try and get out of the car, the passenger side door was opened from above him and he was forcefully yanked out of the car. As he was pulled out from the broken window, bits of glass dug into his skin and cut his sides deeply.

Nick was barely able to register what was going on. All he really knew was he had just been in a car accident, although it didn't seem like it had been an accident. And now he was laying in the back seat of a car that was driving off very fast in the direction Nick had just come from. That was as far as he got before everything went black and he passed out.

* * *

Nick slowly opened his eyes as he became more and more aware of the pain in his sides and head. He could barely remember what had happened and had no idea where he was. He had to wait for his vision to clear before he understood why his throat hurt so bad and why it was so hard to breathe. 

Both of his wrists were in handcuffs that were attatched to metal chains that were secured to the wall. There was a metal noose around his neck that was holding him upright, but was also digging into his skin and causing him to bleed slowly. He took a deep breath and felt the pain instantly in his ribs. He looked around him as much as he could but didn't see anything that would tell him where exactly he was. All he could determine was he was in a basement somewhere with no windows or doors that he could see.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, a short brown haired man with a scruffy beard came into view and stood in front of Nick with an arrogant smile. "Hello Brown." He said.

Nick shook his head slightly. "What? Who are you talking to? My name's not Brown."

The man's smile faded. "Yes you are. You're Warrick Brown, aren't you?"

"Do I look like Warrick Brown?" The man didn't respond. "I'm Nick Stokes. You kidnapped the wrong guy genius."

Out of fear of frustration, the scruffy guy punched Nick in the face before going back to wherever he had come from. Nick was left alone again, so his mind drifted off into thought and he couldn't do much to stop it. He felt weird because he wasn't scared at all. He was in a fairly decent amount of pain, but he wasn't scared. But shouldn't he be? He'd been kidnapped again, and who knows who took him or why. They could be capable of anything.

Still, he wasn't scared.

About a half hour later, the short man walked back into the basement and over to Nick. This time he was accompanied by another older, taller and clean shaven man who was so confident you could tell just by looking at him.

"Nick, is it?" The new man asked.

Nick nodded. "Yeah. Who the fuck are you?"

"I'm Dave Collins, and this is Steve O'Neil. We're close friends with Judge Coons."

Nick shook his head again. "Who's he? Remember, you guys got the wrong guy so I don't exactly know what's going on here."

"He's the man Warrick Brown got put in jail a few years ago because he didn't want to pay his debt to us. So Warrick's the reason all of our reputations have been almost demolished. He's the reason you're here right now."

"Great." Nick muttered. "But if you don't mind, I have nothing to do with this so can you let me go? Don't worry, I won't tell the police or anything. I just wanna go home."

Dave shook his head. "I can't do that, sorry. I'm actually glad we ended up with you. Judge Coons was never fond of you ya know. Things you did and said pissed him, and me, off a lot."

"I never even knew the guy." Nick said.

"But we know you. You're the one who was kidnapped and buried alive, right?"

Nick nodded weakly.

"The money Sam Braun gave his daughter to save your life was supposed to go to us. We were slowly starting to rebuild and needed a little help. But you fucked that up."

"I'm sorry I got kidnapped, I honestly never meant for that to happen. What are you trying to rebuild anyway?"

"Our lives." Dave answered. "We're still very powerful, but money makes us even more powerful. We can buy back our reputations. We were thankfully still influential enough to find out enough information about everyone Warrick has ever met in case we ever had to use someone against him. We've been planning this for a long, long time Nick."

"That doesn't sound good for me." Nick said.

Dave smiled. "It's not. We know you're his best friend and he'd do anything to save you. We know that he was by your bedside the entire time you were in the hospital. So I think it's better we ended up with you as bait. It's just too bad for you."

Before Nick could respond, Dave whistled and another man came into the room, with him a large flat screen TV on a rolling dolley. There was a webcam on top of the TV that was pointing at Nick. The man handed Dave a remote before standing next to Steve.

"Thanks Henry." Dave said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Now Nick, while you were napping we contacted your friends over at the crimelab and let them know the situation. They're all willing to cooperate and also have one of these handy little devices so we can communicate with them as if they were here."

Dave clicked on the TV, and the screen was instantly filled with the image of the entire graveyard shift in the A/V lab huddled in front of another monitor. Catherine had tears in her eyes and held onto Warrick's arm. Warrick had a blank expression on his pale face as he just stared at Nick.

"Whatever he says, don't do it. Don't do anything he says. He's gonna kill me anyway so don't-" Nick's pleading with his team was cut off by Steve quickly stepping forward and hitting him in the chest with a wooden baseball bat. The air was immediatly knocked from his lungs and the taste of blood filled his mouth.

"Don't be stupid Nick." Dave said, who was standing so he couldn't be seen by the webcam. "They'll do exactly as I say if they want you back. All we want is the money Warrick owes us, interest included, and a little physical sacrifice from you."

When Nick finally caught his breath, he spoke right away. "This is just about money? Why is it always about money? Fuck you and your little henchmen too. They're not paying you anything, so have a field day doing whatever you want to me."

"Why don't you step into the camera so we can talk face to face like grown men?" Grissom asked suddenly.

Dave shook his head, but only Nick could see that. "No, I don't think that'd be a good idea. I'll let you watch your friend die though."

"He's not coming on. I've already seen who he is, so I'm dead. His name's Da-"

Another blow to the chest cut Nick off again. He would have doubled over if it hadn't been for the chains on his wrists and neck. Instead, all he was able to do was cough up blood onto his grey t-shirt, leaving a dark crimson stain.

"I thought I warned you already?" Dave pressed a button on the remote, and Nick could no longer hear Catherine's ragged sobs or the buzz of the lab. "In case you forgot, you're my hostage. I have total and complete control over you, and I'm going to use that to my full advantage. I suggest you shut the hell up."

Dave clicked 'mute' off in time to hear Archie explaining what was going on. "He can control the audio and visual feed as he wishes. He can let us hear and see, or one or the other. Or nothing at all."

"That's exactly right." Dave agreed. "I think we should give Nick a little time to calm down, he's a little riled up. Maybe he'll be more compliable with some of Steve's convincing."

Dave walked behind the TV and out of the room, leaving the remote with Henry. Steve smiled slightly and took another swing, which again connected with Nick's already bruised chest. The Texan coughed up even more blood and tired as hard as he could to keep himself from passing out.

"Stop it! Leave him alone!" Catherine screamed. "We'll do whatever you want, just stop hurting him."

"Would you rather us come after you? Or Sara? How about Greg?" Steve asked mockingly.

"No." Nick choked out. "Leave them...alone. Don't...fucking touch...them."

Steve laughed shortly. "Or what? What are you gonna do to me Nick? You're chained up, remember? You're completely helpless. There's nothing you can do about it."

"Take the chain off his neck." Henry said suddenly.

Steve turned to Henry. "What? Why?"

"Do you want to choke him to death, or make it last a little longer? Just do it."

Steve complied. He walked over to Nick and pulled a set of small silver keys out of his dress pants' pocket and unlocked the chain from around Nick's neck and pulled it down from the beam running across the ceiling. Once he had tossed the chain to the side, Nick kneed Steve in the groin as hard as he could, causing the other man to stumble backwards.

"You little fucker." Steve said breathlessly.

"You callin' _me _little? What are you, like five foot three?"

Feeling a need for vengeance, Steve picked up the bat again and spun around as fast as he could. He aimed low, and hit his target. The wooden bat hit Nick's groin with a sickening force.

"An eye for an eye." Steve said, laughing humorlessly. Then him and Henry left the basement, leaving the TV to show Nick finally able to fall to his knees.

The chains still around his wrists kept Nick's hands so they were hanging just above his head, which was facing the floor. His chest was heaving with every painful breath he took. After what could have been hours, he finally raised his head and looked at his team.

"Guys...don't do what they say. Don't...do anything. As soon as you do...he's gonna kill me. He already...hates me as it is." Nick was having a lot of trouble speaking through all the pain he was in right now.

"We have to Nicky. We have to help you. You know damn well we're not just gonna sit here and watch them kill you. Just sit tight, we're gonna get you outta there." Catherine said through her tears.

Nick smiled weakly. "Okay." He whispered.

Warrick finally spoke, but not to Nick. "It's Dave Collins, Steve O'Neil and Henry Dowd. They worked with Judge Coons years ago. They...I guess they think I still owe them money." Warrick was looking at Nick, but not speaking to him.

"So what do they have against Nick?"

"They know everything about me. They-" Realization dawned on Nick when he figured out why Dave hated him so much. "Dave Collins worked with dad in Texas like twenty years ago. I got him fired because he-" Nick stopped short, not wanting to continue.

Catherine recognized that tone of voice and that look on Nick's face. "Nicky...he's not who I think he is, is he?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah. How did I forget that? How did I forget him?" He shook his head slowly.

"How the hell do **you** know him?" Warrick asked, this time talking to Nick.

"He's the guy that molested me when I was a teenager. He's the guy that tried to kill me after I told my dad what he did. He's the guy that liked to have sex with me when I was fifteen Warrick." Nick said harshly.

Warrick dropped his eyes to the floor and fell silent, as well as everyone else. Before Nick could say anything else, the TV was clicked off from somewhere behind him.

"So you do remember me." Dave said. "I was a little worried you had forgotten, so I tired to play along. But now that you remember...I think we should have some alone time, don't you?"

* * *

I sincerely apologize for the immense amount of time it took for this chapter to be posted. My computer had to be fixed, and then I was on vacation for a week and never got around to finishing it. I assure you I will keep up with the chapters as frequently as I can. 

Thanks for the reviews, keep 'em coming.


	5. Explode

Warrick and Catherine were the only ones left in the A/V lab. They were there to wait and see if the monitor came back on and to alert everyone else when that happened. Of course that was a job for only one person, but Grissom didn't want Warrick or Catherine to have to help process evidence they didn't have or interrogate suspects they coulnd't find yet. He thought it'd be better if they stayed there with each other. 

"I can't believe this is happening." Catherine said quietly.

Warrick remained silent. All he had been able to do for the last hour since they had seen Nick was stare down at the floor in silence and think to himself. He had felt so guilty about Nick being there, but now he didn't know what to feel. Nick knew the guy too, so it wasn't completely Warrick's fault. But he still felt awful and wanted to save Nick again. At first he thought he didn't give a damn about what would happen to Nick because he thought he deserved whatever they would do to him.

Then he saw him. Warrick saw Nick chained up and getting hit in the chest with a baseball bat literally right in front of him. And there was nothing he could do. He knew yelling at them to stop wouldn't work, and he couldn't shoot them through the screen. So he just watched helplessly, just like he had done before when Nick had been buried. Warrick knew that's why they were using webcams again. They'd do anything to inflict pain on people, even if it was just emotional.

"I didn't know he knew Collins." Warrick finally said, barely above a whisper.

Catherine looked over at Warrick even though his eyes didn't move from the floor. "I know. He didn't want to tell you, and he only told me because of that case when he told me about the babysitter."

"He sort of told me about it. He got really drunk and probably didn't know what he was saying. I barely understood him and just never brought it up again." Warrick finally looked up at Catherine. "He's gonna kill him. Collins' is gonna kill Nick."

Catherine shook her head. "No he's not. We're gonna find him. Nick's gonna make it."

Before Warrick could respond, the monitor flickered back on and they could see Nick again, even though they wished they couldn't.

**_

* * *

_****_EARLIER_**

Nick's heart skipped a bit when he heard Dave Collin's voice from behind him. He hadn't been afraid before, but now he was terrified. And Dave knew it.

"I wish we didn't have such an awful history together Nick." Dave said, his voice growing closer.

"Well that was your fault, not mine." Nick said through clenched teeth.

"Is that so?" Dave asked.

"You were the one who liked to have sex with teenage boys." Nick said harshly.

Dave laughed humorlessly. He pulled a black towel from his back pocket and tied it securely around Nick's head, over his eyes. He walked in front of Nick and stood there, admiring the younger man.

"I've grown up now. And so have you. You were always in good shape, but you look really good now. You've turned into quite a handsome young man."

Nick didn't say anything. All he could do was clench his fists and try to stay calm. The fact that he couldn't see Dave wasn't make it too easy, but Nick was managing. He just took slow, deep breaths and tried to ignore the other man in the room.

"I used to like you Nick. A lot if you get what I mean. But then you told your father about us. That really screwed things up for me. I had to move all the way out here and start over because of you."

Nick couldn't stop himself. "Fuck you."

Dave shook his head, but Nick couldn't see that. He also couldn't see him take a step forward and reach out to him. Nick didn't know what was happening until he felt a tug on his shirt and heard it being cut off. He was fully aware of his shirt being gone when he felt the cold, clammy basement air hit his skin and take over.

"Wow, you're really beat up." Dave commented on the dark blue and black bruises covering Nick's chest. There was also the deep cuts in his sides from the broken glass of his car window.

"Baseball bats can do that to ya." Nick said.

Dave lightly traced his index finger over a large bruise in the center of Nick's bare chest. Nick flinched away and tried to keep his breathing under control. He couldn't move too far, though, and he felt Dave's hands on him again.

"You always were pretty jumpy Nick. But that just made it more satisfying."

Nick tried to flinch away again, but Dave's hands were now firmly on his hips, not letting him move at all. Without a word, his hands moved to Nick's belt and quickly undid it, along with the zipper to Nick's dark jeans. Dave tugged them down a little to reveal Nick's black boxers before stepping away and sighed in satisfaction.

"Let's see what you friends think about this." He said and walked away, flicking the TV on before his footsteps weren't heard anymore.

* * *

Tears started to fall from Catherine's eyes again when she saw the state Nick's body was in. His exposed chest looked like one big bruise and he was still bleeding slightly from the wounds on his sides. The blindfold was still over his eyes and his jeans were still tugged down low on his hips. 

"Oh my God..." She said softly. "Did he touch you?"

Nick calmed down a bit upon hearing Catherine's voice, but his breathing still wasn't perfectly even. "Yeah, kind of. He just wanted to see what you guys would think seeing me like this. It didn't go farther than almost taking off my jeans." Nick's voice was quiet and strained.

"That son of a bitch. I'm sorry Nicky...just hang in there okay?"

Nick nodded weakly. "I just can't promise I won't kill this guy if given the chance."

"What the hell happened?" Nick heard Grissom ask, who must have just returned to the A/V lab.

Nick tuned out Catherine explaining it to their supervisor and tried to think of a way of escaping. Nothing he came up with solved the problem of his hands being chained and shackled to a cement wall. Maybe he could try to talk his way out of it.

"How are you doing Nick?" Grissom asked, snapping Nick out of his thoughts.

"As good as I can given the current situation I guess."

A door opened from behind him and Nick heard someone walk into the room. He waited somewhat patiently and the blindfold was finally removed from his eyes. When he looked up, he saw a new face.

"Who the hell are you?" Nick asked the young looking blonde guy standing in front of him.

"James." He said simply.

"Where is he getting all these bad guys? Do you guys have to sign up somewhere?"

"Real funny. Too bad it won't come in handy for you."

James was soon joined by Henry and Steve, but not Dave. The three men stood around Nick silently and seemed to be waiting for something.

"What do you three stooges want?" Nick asked, earning himself a knee to his spine from Henry.

"We're here to tell your colleagues that they need to pay us one-hundred-thousand dollars within the hour, or we'll kill you." Steve answered.

"Your gonna kill me anyway, why should they give you money too?"

"You're not as smart as you think Nick." Henry said as he walked around in front of their captive. "Dave likes you more than you think. He doesn't want to kill you, just hurt you and let you know he's more powerful than you think."

"I got that impression twenty years ago." Nick muttered.

Henry ignored Nick's comment and continued, speaking to the rest of the graveyard team. "You can drop the money at-"

Nick cut him off before he could finish. "The lab doesn't negotiate with terrorists, sorry. We ran into that problem before. I don't think Sam Braun will cough up any more money for me either."

Henry turned around and glared at Nick. "Fine, if you don't want to cooperate then they can just guess where to leave the money. When they guess wrong, I'll take great pleasure in watching you be killed."

With that Henry left with James, but Steve stayed behind. He was still standing behind Nick so the other man couldn't see him, but Nick's team on the other side of the screen could see what he planning to do.

Steve had produced a stun gun and was now holding it in his hand. He patiently held it by his side and seemed pleased when he heard the door open again in the back of the basement. Before anyone could see who had walked in, the screen went dark. But everyone in the A/V lab could still hear footsteps approaching. They had lost the picture, but could still hear.

"Henry tells me you're not cooperating Nicholas." Dave said from somewhere in the darkness of the screen.

Nick didn't respond. He just stayed as still as he could and hoped Dave would go away. Much to his dismay, he felt Steve grab his arm and then haul him up so he was standing on his feet instead of kneeling. Nick closed his eyes when he heard Dave's footsteps drawing nearer.

"But that's okay, because I think I finally found a way to prove to you that I have total and complete control. Not only over my business, but also over you. The sooner you realize that, the better."

Before Nick could say anything, he felt a sharp, searing pain shoot from his right shoulder throughout his entire body. The pain was unlike anything he had ever felt before. It wasn't until Steve walked around in front of him that he realized he had just been hit with a stun gun. He didn't even have time to catch his breath before he felt the sensation again, this time shooting from his already damaged chest.

Nick's breathing was ragged and strained, and it was the only thing his friends could hear back at the crime lab. They sat there in silence and just listened to Nick's toruring that seemed to be going on forever. Then Archie came running into the lab, saw that the visual was gone and motioned everyone out of the room and across the hall.

"What is it Archie?" Warrick asked, somewhat annoyed.

"I traced the webcam. I know where Nick is." Archie said excitedly. His excitement spread through everyone else who had gathered in the room to hear the good news.

They were going to get Nick back.

Or would it be too late?


	6. Made a Mistake

Nick was finally able to fall back to his knees when Steve and Dave finally left him alone. They turned the visual back on just before the door closed behind them. Back at the lab, the team was now in the A/V room again and they were met with a less than appealing sight. 

Nick had burn marks scattered all over his already battered chest. Blood was dripping down both of his arms from the cuts in his wrists he sustained struggling against the handcuffs. His chest was heaving as he was trying to catch his breath, but wasn't succeeding. His eyes were shut tightly and he was clenching his jaw against the pain. Everyone stared in shock at the awful sight in front of them. They had never seen a living person is such a terrible condition before. It didn't help much that it was their friend that was in such a state either.

Catherine was the first to shake off the shock and say something. "Nicky? Are you okay?" She asked, even though it was a stupid question. He clrealy wasn't.

Nick nodded weakly. "Yeah." He lied. "I'm fine."

Catherine wanted to tell him to just hang on for a bit longer, that they knew where he was and were on their way. But she knew she couldn't in case Dave or someone else was listening. So all she could really do was keep talking to him soothingly, for both their sakes.

Nick finally opened his eyes and looked at his team. Except it wasn't everyone. It was just Catherine and Grissom sitting there with Archie. But in the background, Nick saw Brass talking to Warrick and Greg hurriedly, with a bunch of other officers nearby. That's when Nick realized that they knew where he was. The way Brass was giving instructions and everyone was listening so intently gave it away. Nick felt a sense of relief, but not an overwhelming one. Especially since Warrick was going with them, the man that didn't care too much for Nick anymore.

Grissom knew what Nick was thinking without even having to ask him. "You're wrong." He said sternly.

Nick shook his head. "No I'm not. He doesn't care if I die or not. He actually probably wants me dead."

Grissom stood up and walked closer to the screen to make it seem like he was walking closer to Nick. "Yes, he does care. You both said some really stupid things, but neither one of you meant it. You might think you did, but you didn't. And I know for a fact that Warrick didn't."

"How?" Nick asked, annoyed.

"Because he called you _Nicky_." Grissom said. Nick didn't seem to understand what he meant. "When you two idiots were argruing in the locker room, he called you _Nicky_. Not Nick, not dumbass, not asshole. _Nicky_."

Nick suddenly remember what Grissom was talking about and realized he was right. But so what? "And? What's your point?" Nick asked.

"Wanna know the last time I heard him call you Nicky, with his voice sounding the same way and everything?" Nick didn't answer, but Grissom didn't stop. "When he thought you killed yourself when he was watching you on the monitor. And then later when I found him in the locker room about to break down. He said, 'We gotta get _Nicky_ back.' He cared then, and he cares now."

Nick looked down at the floor, realizing Grissom was right, again. The entire time Nick had been chained up in this random basement, all he really thought about was how bad he had messed things up. Looking at it now, he realized that it really was all his fault. He didn't have to act the way he had or say the things he said. He should have just let his friends help him so that he could move on. But part of him didn't want to move on because he knew he would never get over the fact that he was meant to die down there. A feeling like that just doesn't leave you.

Nick wished he knew why he was such an idiot. He wanted a reason for messing up anything he had ever cared about. Warrick had been his best friend for as long as he could remember knowing him. Nick changed that in a matter of weeks because he was scared. Fear had changed his entire personality, and now he had now idea if he could fix it. He highly doubted it due to the way he had treated Warrick. But it was worth a shot. That is of course, if Nick made it out of his current ordeal alive.

Nick kept his eyes down as he asked, "How long?"

Grissom knew what he meant. "Soon. Just hang on."

They fell silent, no one knowing what to say next. So no one said anything. Catherine stared at Nick and tried to read his mind. She wanted to know what he was thinking. She wanted to know if this had changed his mind about anything and if it would make him fix things with Warrick. She sure hoped so.

It wasn't long after they had fallen into silence that the door in the back of the dark room flew open and crashed against the wall loudly. The TV was clicked off and the remote was then thrown against the cement wall, shattering instantly. Dave practically ran into the room and stopped in front of Nick.

"How the fuck did they find out where we are?" He demanded.

Nick shrugged. "I guess you're not as smart and powerful as you thought."

Dave didn't like that answer. Out of frustration, he punched Nick in the face and drew his gun. He pressed the barrel into Nick's throat forcefull, cutting off Nick's air supply.

"Stand up." He said, and Nick did as he was told. "I really wished it wasn't going to have to come to this Nick. I do like you, ya know." Dave leaned in so close to Nick that their noses were almost touching. "Even though you ruined my life and show me no respect, I still think we could have had something."

Nick was having a hard time keeping his breathing under control because of the close proximity his face was with Dave's. Everything about the other man scared the hell out of Nick, although he wasn't going to show it. The Texan tried to punch the older man, but was unable to do so because of his restraints. All he could do was stand there helplessly for what seemed like forever until he heard yelling and footsteps flooding into the room. He looked to his left and saw Brass and Warrick with the rest of what appeared to be the entire LVPD force behind them. All with their guns drawn, pointing at Dave. Nick knew he was probably imagining it, but he could have sworn that for a minute, Warrick had been pointing his gun at him instead of Dave.

"Drop your weapon." Brass said forcefully.

Dave laughed lightly. "You won't even think of firing anywhere near him. Let me go, and you can have Nick back."

Nick looked down and saw Dave's left hand move to his pocket, maybe to draw another weapon. No one else could see it because Nick and Dave's bodies were obstructing their view. Nick tried to warn them, but Dave was faster and shoved the barrel deeper against Nick's windpipe.

"Drop your weapon." Brass repeated. "You're not going anywhere other than jail."

"That's what you think." Dave scoffed. He reached his hand all the way into his pocket, and out of pure fear for what he could be getting Nick did the only thing he could think to do. No matter how much he didn't want to, he thought it would work.

Without too much hesistation, Nick closed his eyes tightly and leaned forward until he felt the sickening feeling of his lips against Dave's. Everyone in the room, including Dave, was shocked by what Nick had just done. Brass and Warrick were the first to realize he was just trying to create a diversion. After a brief moment, they started moving forward when they saw Dave try to deepen the kiss with Nick.

But when the older man heard movement, he pushed Nick back with the gun and pulled out of his pocket three smoke bombs, which he threw at the floor, setting them all off. The room was almost instantly filled with smoke, blinding everyone. It was too late when the smoke finally cleared and everyone got their bearings back. Dave was no where to be seen. Brass ordered his men out to go and find him and everyone else within the hour. Brass and Warrick were at Nick's side before the room even had a chace to clear.

Nick's jeans were pulled lower than they had been before and there were deep, bleeding scratches on his abs. He was breathing heavily and kept spitting off to his right to try and get the taste out of his mouth. Brass and Warrick both wondered if it was because he had kissed Dave, or if it was because he had thrown up whatever he had in his stomach. It was probably both.

The paramedics seemed to be taking forever to make it there, so Brass and Warrick decided to fill in. Nick was shaking violently for a number of reasons. Warrick quickly took his jacket off and wrapped it around Nick as tightly as he could without hurting him any more than he already was. Brass and Warrick kneeled down in front of Nick and each put a hand on one of his shoulders to steady his shaking body.

"It's okay Nicky, he's gone." Warrick said.

Nick clenched his jaw and the sound of his nickname coming from Warrick. He knew he cared despite the fact that Nick had been a total ass to him. Nick was going to fix things, but later. Right now he was trying to stay calm and not have a panic attack.

"It's alright. Take slow breaths. We're gonna get you outta here as soon as we can. Hang in there kid." Brass said soothingly.

Nick managed to get his breathing back to normal when the paramedics came running in with Greg. The next five or so minutes was a toal blur to Nick. The next thing he knew he was in the ambulnace, looking up from the stretcher at Greg's worried face.

"Just relax Nick, you're gonna be okay." The younger man said.

Nick just weakly nodded and let his tired eyes closed, hoping that maybe now he would get some sleep. He had finally fallen asleep - more like passed out - as the ambulance pulled up to the hospital and rushed him to the ER. No one was aware that what had happened to Nick was going to be nothing compared to what was in store for him, and Warrick as well.

* * *

Sorry for the cliffhanger. Next chapter(s) should be up soon. Thanks for the reviews, I appreciate them a lot. 


	7. Movie Buff

Although Nick's body had taken a brutal beating, his injuries weren't as severe as everyone thought. He had a few broken ribs and minimal internal bleeding, which was to be expected. The burns all over his chest were easily treated and would heal in a few weeks. The cuts on Nick's wrists from the handcuffs were fairly deep, but not deep enough to need stitches. He had bandages wrapped around each cut wrist and more bandages covering most of his abs where Dave had scratched him in his attempt at going a little further south. 

Nick was out of the hospital as soon as the doctor's would allow. There was very little the Texan hated more than hospitals. The feel, smell, look. He hated everything about them and wanted to be there for no more than what was necessary. He was soon back at his home, still sore but doing much better than he had been in that basement. He had been given a good amount of pain killers, but Nick only took one when he absolutely had to. He hated medicine almost as much as hospitals.

Nick had just been about to fall asleep when he heard a loud knock at his door. He almost fell off the couch at the sudden noise. He quickly turned the TV off and sat up, flinching at the pain that shot through his ribs. He didn't get up to go answer the door for fear of who was behind it. Dave and his crew of countless henchmen were still at large, and Nick didn't doubt they'd be back after him soon enough.

"Nicky it's me." He heard Catherine call from outside.

Nick sighed in relief and went over to the door, opening it to reveal a worried Catherine. "What's wrong?" He asked, her worry spreading into him.

"They got Warrick." She said, exasperated.

"What?" Nick asked, shaking his head. "How did that happen?"

"He was coming in to work and they grabbed him right outside, but we didn't notice until he was an hour late and no one had seen him. Dave Collins keeps calling the crime lab, and will only talk to you."

Nick got dressed as quickly as he could without causing himself too much pain. He just threw on a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, then was out the door, following Catherine to her car parked in his driveway. They drove to the lab in complete silence, neither one of them knowing what to say. When they finally made it to the lab, as soon as they walked through the front door all eyes were on Nick. Everyone undoubtedly had heard what had happened and watched as Nick and Catherine made their way to the layout room, where Grissom and Brass were waiting for them with Sara and Greg.

"Why does he want to talk to me?" Nick asked once the doors had closed behind him.

"I don't know." Grissom said honestly. "But he won't say anything else until he hears you on the phone. He calls every ten minutes...so in about three he'll be calling back."

"Can't we just trace it and find out where he is?" Nick asked. He really didn't want to talk to the man he had been deathly afraid of for the last twenty years.

Brass shook his head. "We tried. The number and location are blocked. He knew we'd try to trace it."

Nick sighed and sank down into the chair next to Greg. He ran his hands through his hair several times and finally looked back up at Grissom and Brass. "What am I supposed to say?"

Brass sighed as well. "Find out what he wants, and if Warrick's still alive."

Nick visibly flinched at that thought, but pushed it to the back of his mind.

"We still don't know anything yet, so find out as much as you can." Grissom said as calmly as possible.

Before Nick could say anything else, the cell phone in the middle of the table rang. Nick hadn't noticed it until it had started ringing. He looked over at Brass, who nodded, so Nick reluctantly picked it up and opened it. He held it up to his ear for a second before answering.

"It's Nick." He said, his voice surprisingly steady.

Dave laughed lightly on the other line. "You finally made it. I was starting to get worried."

"Where's Warrick?" Nick asked, cutting right to the chase.

"He's sitting right next to me, and cooperating a lot better than you did."

"Let me talk to him." Nick said.

Dave was quiet for a second before answering. "I don't think I can let you do that."

Nick took that as a bad sign. "If you did anything to him I swear I'll kill you."

"He's fine Nick, relax. I just don't think you talking to him is the best idea. But let me stop beating around the bush here. What would you do to get your friend back?"

"Whatever you want me to do." Nick answered.

"Good answer." Dave said. "Have you ever been a Batman fan Nick?" Dave asked.

Nick wak caught off guard by that question. "What?"

"Batman." Dave repeated. "I loved him when I was a kid. But my favorite was always the Riddler. He always asked great questions that required thinking. I love riddles, do you?" Nick closed his eyes, knowing where this was going. "I hope so, because we're going to play a little game. I'm going to ask you some riddles. If you get enough of them right, I'll let Warrick go. But for every one you get wrong...well, let's just say you better not get any wrong."

"I don't have a choice in this do I?"

"Sure you do. You can answer the questions correctly or incorrectly. It's up to you."

Nick clenched his jaw, trying to stay calm. "Okay." Was all he could say.

"Great." Dave said, sounding upbeat. "Here's your first question, it's rather easy: how can you throw a ball as hard as you can and have it come back to you without it hitting anything, having nothing attatched to it, and having no one catch it and throw it back to you?" Dave paused for a second before saying, "you have thirty seconds. After that, I'll call back and you'll answer the phone with the answer to the riddle."

The line went dead.

"What did he say?" Grissom asked.

"He asked me a riddle I have to answer in thirty seconds or he'll do something to Warrick..."

Nick thought as hard as he could, but the question didn't make sense to him. It was hard to think clearly with his friend's life on the line. Everyone in the room was completely silent as they watched Nick try to figure whatever it was out. A second before the phone rang Nick figured it out, just in time.

"Throw it straight up in the air." He said after he had flipped the phone open.

"Very good Nick." Dave said.

Nick forgot what he had wanted to say next when he heard the gunshot on the other end of the line. It was so loud that everyone else in the room had heard it from the phone. Nick jumped, almost dropping the phone from surprise.

"What the fuck?" Nick would have yelled if he could, but he was so scared he could barely choke it out. His face had gone so pale everyone around him was afraid he was going to pass out.

"Don't worry Nick, that wasn't aimed at Warrick. This particular revolver that I'm holding in my hand has eight bullets. Well, only seven left. That means you only have to answer seven more questions correctly. When you get them right, I put a bullet in the wall. Get one wrong, I put a bullet in your friend."

"This isn't funny. Stop fucking around and just tell me what you want." Nick said, his voice a little on edge.

"What I want? I want you to understand that I have total control over you. You're powerless, making me even more powerful. You know what I want you to do."

Nick was done talking. Instead, he sat there silently and waited for Dave to tell him his next riddle.

"Now...which is the correct way to say this: seven and five _is_ thirteen, or seven and five _are_ thirteen?"

Again, the line went dead, leaving Nick to think this one through. He shut the phone, immediatly trying to think of which was the grammatically correct way to say that sentence. The layout room was silent, except for when Nick was speaking into the phone. No one else spoke to Nick or anyone else in the room. But somehow, the silence spoke louder than any of them ever could.

It had only taken Nick a few seconds to figure it out. The rest of the time he had he looked around at his friends and tried to reassure them with a smile. It didn't work as well as he was hoping for.

"Neither way is correct. Seven and five equals twelve." Nick said into the phone after he had answered it.

Nick was met with another gunshot, which again made him jump. His hands were starting to shake and he felt like he hadn't slept or eaten anything in a very long time.

"Sit tight, don't be so nervous." Dave said. "Relax, that room looks comfortable enough."

Nick felt his heart skip a couple beats before its pace quickened altogether. He looked all around him, but saw no visible cameras.

"Yes Nick, I can see you." Dave said mockingly.

Nick's hands started shaking harder and he felt like he was going to throw up.

"Take a break and calm down. But don't you dare leave that room. Get comfortable, it's gonna be a long night."


	8. Truth Is

Warrick didn't understand why he kept hearing gunshots coming from the room next to where he was being held hostage. All he really understood was that he was terrified and that they were in such an old and rundown apartment building complex that no one seemed to be living there. The carpet looked like one big stain and the wallpaper was crinkled up and dry. The bed to Warrick's left looked like it was hard as a rock and the chair he was tied to wasn't comfortable at all. Steve was standing in front of the door facing him, his gun in his hand with his arms crossed over his chest. 

After at least two hours of sitting in complete silence, Dave came in from the room next door, his gun down by his side.

"Nick's cooperating well, it's almost all set." Dave said to Steve.

"Mind telling me what's going on?" Warrick asked.

Dave pulled up a chair in front of Warrick. He sat down with a huge smile on his face. "You fell for it all." He said simply.

"Fell for what?"

"Everything." Dave said. He shook his head slowly. "This has all been a set up from the very beginning, ever since you got Judge Coons thrown in jail. Granted we lucked out that Nick worked with you. He was in the perfect position the entire time."

"What are you talking about?" Warrick demanded.

"Nick works for me." Dave said. "He has for as long as I can remember. Your friendship with him was our way of getting to you. We took our time, gradually building up trust until we were ready to make our move. It was all planned. Nick's kidnapping was the final stage. Gordon was supposed to take the money he got for Nick and leave it in a secure place for us to pick up. Nick was actually supposed to die, leaving all the guilt on you."

"You're a fucking liar."

"Am I?" Dave leaned forward. "When the money was lost and Nick made it out, I'll admit I was a little worried about what to do. Nick didn't know he was supposed to die. So when he got out, I came up with something better. A complete fallout between the two of you. Hate would replace your friendship until you two could no longer stand each other. The car accident was supposed to involve both you and Nick. We were gonna get the money you still owed us, and then you were going to kill Nick."

Warrick sat in there disbelief, only able to listen. The more he thought about it, the more sense it made Nick's behavior seem. But it couldn't be true. He knew Nick better than that. Didn't he?

"He said he knew you threw his father. He said that you-"

"Molested him when he was a teenager." Dave said, finshing Warrick's sentence for him. "He said that because he was supposed to say that." He paused for a brief second. "You still don't believe me, do you?" Warrick didn't answer in any way. "Why do you think I've been on the phone with him these past hours?"

Warrick had been able to hear Dave's conversations with Nick through the paper thin walls, but his words had been muffled. He hadn't been able to make out anything Dave had said. Warrick had no other explanation of why Nick had acted the way he had when he had been resucued, so maybe Dave was right. Maybe this all really was one big set up.

"Nick set me up." Warrick said, thinking out loud.

"Yes, he did." Dave said. He stood from his chair and started pacing back and forth in front of Warrick slowly. "So I'm going to give you an ultimatum. There's going to be a ransom for your safe return, and Nick's going to lead a rescue mission in here to get you out without paying. But of course it's all been planned out for us to get more than we asked for and have you end up being killed anyway for the trouble you've caused us. But it doesn't have to come to that."

Warrick was in such an intense state of fear he was willing to believe anything and do anything to get himself out alive. "What's the other option."

Dave shrugged as if it were nothing. "Kill Nick."

* * *

Nick slammed the phone shut in frustration and only refrained from throwing it at the wall because Greg grabbed his arm and prevented him fro doing so. He instead slammed it down on the table and stood up from his chair.

"He said I know what he wants from me." Nick said, answering everyone's question. "He said I know the one thing he wants that would make him stop. If I fucking knew what he wanted I would have given it to him already!"

"Calm down man." Greg said as he gently squeezed Nick's shoulder.

Catherine shook her head slowly. "He didn't say he wanted money or anything else like that?"

"No." Nick sat back down. "All he said was he has one bullet left and if I don't figure out what he wants in one hour it's going in Warrick. I knew all the answers to his other stupid questions, but this one I'm supposed to know off the top of my head? This is so fucked up."

Catherine crossed the room and kneeled in front of Nick. She took his hands in hers and held them firmly until he looked up from the table at her. She held her grip on his hands even as she spoke.

"Listen to me Nicky." The sound of his nickname being said yet again washed away almost all of his anger and frustration, just like Catherine had known it would. "I know you're gonna figure it out. I know you're gonna save Warrick because you two are like brothers, no matter what happened before."

"I can't do this." Nick said softly. "He even knows he's fucked. I know he hates me and everything...but I never knew it was going to end up like this."

"You can do this because you know he doesn't hate you." Catherine continued before Nick could argue. "You get in the biggest fights with the people you love because you care so damn much about them. You guys got in this seemingly stupid fight because you're trying to help each other. You expect more from one another because you know what you're both capable of."

"What if I can't get to him in time? He's gonna die because of me."

"No, he's gonna live because of you."

Without any enegery left in him to talk, Nick leaned back in his chair and let his eyes close. Catherine rubbed the tops of his hands soothingly as he sat there and thought as hard as he could. Everyone else was silent, praying to themselves that Nick would pull this one off like he had pulled off so many other miraculous things.

After 45 minutes of nothing being said or done, Nick finally opened his eyes. A small smile played across his lips and simultaneously spread to everyone else's. They all looked at him anxiously as they waited for him to speak.

"I think I got it. This has to be it..." Nick said, thinking out loud more than anything.

Not five minutes later the phone rang from in the middle of the table. Catherine released Nick's hands and he opened the phone and held it up to his ear. His hands were shaking slightly and his voice was full of anticipation.

"I give up." He said.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Dave said. He cocked the gun, the sound flowing through his phone and into Nick's ear.

"No!." Nick yelled unintentionally. "I mean you win. That's what you want. You want me to give up, so I am. You want me, you got me. You win." Nick said in mock defeat.

But Dave bought it. "Well, I'm very impressed Nick. I didn't think you would be able to figure it out with your friend's life on the line."

"Let me talk to him. Prove to me he's still alive." Nick said, keeping his eyes away from everyone else's in the rooms because they were just as afraid of that truth as he was.

Dave was quiet for a minute as he considered. "Okay, that's fair. His hands are tied right now, so I'm going to have to put you on speaker phone."

After a slight pause Nick heard a beep from Dave's phone, followed by Warrick's voice. "Nick?"

"Warrick?" Everyone around him breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine as long as you don't go abandoning me." Warrick said. Nick was silent. "I don't need you going and catching a plane out of here or anything like that. Hey, if I don't make it, you still have stuff at my apartment."

Nick heard the speaker phone being clicked off. "Satisfied?" Dave said.

"Very." Nick said with a smile that Dave would have been confused by if he had seen it. Nick closed the phone and tossed it on the table. He stood up from his chair, still smiling.

"Well?" Sara asked. "What are you smiling about?"

Nick's smile grew even bigger. "I know where Warrick is."


	9. Crossing the Frame

"How do you know where he is?" Catherine asked. She was just as surprised at Nick's answer to why he was smiling as everyone else was. "They wouldn't just let him tell you where he is without it being a set up or something." 

"I know that." Nick said. "He didn't tell me directly. He said that he didn't want me to abandon him by getting on a plane or anything, and that if he didn't make it I still have stuff at his apartment...which is probably true. He told me without actually telling me."

By the looks on their faces, Nick could tell that Grissom was the only one who kind of understood what he was talking about. Everyone else was looking around at each other and shrugging. Catherine thought that Nick was over tired and didn't know what he was saying. But he knew exactly what he was saying.

"He's at an abandoned apartment building near McCarren Airport." Nick finally said.

Now it started to make sense. Somewhat.

"That's a little far fetched Nick." Sara said skeptically.

"Is there even an apartment building out by McCarren?" Grissom asked, beginning to buy into Nick's theory.

Nick nodded. "Yeah, there is. We had a case out there last year. He must have either recognized it or heard the planes. Either way, he's there and I don't know how much time we have to get him out. Dave's probably planning on killing both him and me."

Before Nick could go any farther with coming up with an idea, his heart sunk. He looked up at the ceiling and felt his lungs stop taking in air. He slowly closed his eyes and ran his hands through his hair to try and hide the fact that they were shaking again. But everyone could clearly see the change in his demeanor.

"What's wrong man?" Greg asked worriedly.

"He can see me." Nick answered softly. "He has a camera or something...he told me not to leave the room."

Everyone in the room immediatly looked around them, searching for a hidden camera somewhere that was watching them. Everyone but Nick. Nick had instead taken out his own cell phone and dialed a number he knew pretty well, holding it to his ear and waiting for the call to be answered. When it was, Nick wasted no time.

"Archie, is there anyway someone could tap into our cameras we have inside the building and get their own feed?"

"No way. Even if they somehow found a way, it would take days to do it. The line doesn't split, so they would have to intercept ours altogether and we would immediatly notice the lost signal."

Nick could feel his hopes returning. "What about mounting their own camera...say, near the layout room?"

"That wouldn't work either." Archie answered. "The layout room is too close to the ballistics lab, it would mess up the signals too much to work."

Nick was smiling again. "Thanks Archie." He hung up the phone and turned to the rest of his team, who were confused again. "He was lying. He doesn't have a camera, Archie says there's no way. Dave was just trying to scare me more."

Brass nodded slowly. "Well that's good news. Now all we have to do is figure out how to get in there and get Warrick out without anyone getting killed."

Nick sighed. "I know what to do...but you have to agree to let me do it before I tell you what it is."

"No." Grissom immediatly said. "There's no way that's happening. Tell us first."

Nick sighed. "It doesn't exactly fit Brass' criteria. But it'll work."

"If it has anything to do with you doing something stupid and dangerous, then no. I'll lock you in a cell if I have to." Brass said, taking on the same protective attitude that Grissom just had. The two oldest members of the team's behavior wasn't as surprising as it might have been a few years ago. But now, both men viewed everyone on the team as family and knew Nick well enough to have some idea of what he was thinking of doing.

"Just hear me out." Nick said, trying to make them be rational. "If you don't like it, you can lock me in a cell for as long as you want."

Before he could say anything else, the cell phone Dave had been calling all night rang again. Nick answered it, but put it on speaker phone so everyone could hear this time.

"If you can trace this and find out where Warrick is, come here. But only you. I'm willing to let him go, but not you. You're mine." Then the call ended.

Nick closed the phone and looked up at Grissom and Brass. "Well," He said with a shrug, "Looks like you two don't have much of a choice on agreeing with me now."

* * *

Warrick was confused by the fact that he didn't feel anything when he heard Dave say what he just had. He hadn't felt a thing when he thought about Dave letting him go and taking Nick to do unthinkable things to his best friend. But that was the problem. Nick wasn't his best friend anymore. They hated each other, and just recently Warrick had found out that Nick had been setting him up the entire time. All he felt was anger towards the other man, and no longer cared what happened to Nick Stokes. 

Dave snapped his phone shut and slid it into his pocket before turning and facing Warrick once again. He stared at him for several long moments before sitting down in the chair and sighing slightly.

"Warrick, I know we've had our differences, but I need your help here. What do you think Nick would be willing to do to get you out of here alive?"

Warrick shrugged. "Considering he's a slefish coke head and doesn't care about anything anymore, I'd say very little to nothing."

"You guys really hate each other, don't you?" Dave asked, a small smile playing across his lips.

"You could say that, yeah."

Dave crossed his arms on his chest and looked very satisfied with that answer. "So, I guess the real question is what would _you _do to get out of here alive? Would you perhaps...kill a certain selfish coke head that you already hate?"

Despite the fact that Warrick was almost one-hundred percent sure he hated Nick, he couldn't answer that question. He couldn't help but think back on every little thing they had been through together and remember the fact that Nick had always been there for him no matter what. It was true that after the Gordon thing Nick had drastically changed and they had gotten into their fair share of fights. But deep down, Warrick knew he would never be able to hurt Nick in any way, let alone kill him.

Something else was bothering him as well. It was something Dave had recently said that didn't make sense to Warrick, but he couldn't remember what it was. All he knew was it had something to do with Nick and something Dave had said.

"Warrick, answer the question."

Still somewhat lost in his thoughts, Warrick nodded slightly. "Yeah." He said softly.

Dave smiled again as he stood up. "Good. Steve, untie his hands but keep an eye on him. Nick will be here soon enough and we can finally finish this."

Warrick watched Dave leave the room with a few of the other guys that were working for him as Steve untied his hands from behind the chair he was sitting in. When the door closed behind the last of Dave's henchmen, Warrick hung his head and sighed deeply, getting the attention of Steve.

"You're one lucky guy Brown." He said as he sat down across from Warrick, his gun readily resting in his lap.

"How's that?" Warrick asked.

Steve shrugged nonchalantly. "You get to kill Nick."

* * *

Nick really wished that one of the older men in the front seats of the car would say something. He knew they didn't like what was going to happen, and even more they hated that there was no other choice. Neither Brass nor Grissom cared that they were acting like over protective parents of a teenage girl. Both men were known to never show emotion, but now they couldn't help it. They cared a great deal for everyone on their team, especially the two involved in the current situation.

Over the years Nick and Warrick had been working at CSI, Grissom had been able to see them get better at better at their jobs every year. They were constantly learning new things and their team grew ever stronger. Grissom wasn't ashamed to admit that he felt like a father to them because he got to see them grow up more than anyone else he had even known. He was proud to say he knew them as well as he did.

Brass knew he wasn't the most sentimental guy in the world, but right now he felt like it. He stared straight ahead at the apartment building ahead of them, knowing one of the people he cared most about in the world was in there with his life on the line. And the only person that could get him out was in the backseat, again cared for by the police captain. He felt like nothing less than an uncle to the two young men and would do anything in his power to ensure their safety.

"I really wish Grissom had let me lock you in that cell Nicky." Brass finally said, breaking the silence.

Nick smiled. "As fun as that would have been, it wouldn't have accomplished much."

"Are you absolutely sure you have no other ideas rattling around up there in that head of yours that doesn't involve you going in there? You gotta have something else." Grissom said as he stared straight ahead at the few lights that were on in the apartment building.

"No, sorry." Nick said. "But this is going to work, I promise."

"It better work." Brass and Grissom said in unison.

Nick smiled again. "Don't worry, it will. As soon as Warrick's out, you can send in your cavalry. He's gonna let his guard down when he thinks that he won. This is basically fool proof."

Brass and Grissom turned around so they were both facing Nick. "Be careful." Grissom said.

"Don't do anything stupid." Brass added.

"Don't egg him on or piss him off on purpose like you tend to do with people."

"Yeah...and don't be a smartass."

Nick held up his hands, laughing slightly. "So don't be me?" Both older men nodded. "Okay, I won't. You'll see that you're over reacting for nothing. Everything's gonna be okay. I promise."

And with that Nick got out of the car, slowly walking towards the aparment building. He knew better than to look behind him, especially since he knew the car would be out of sight by now, hidden in the shadows of the night. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans to prevent them from shaking. He paused momentarily in the doorway to the building before taking a deep breath and ascending up the stairs.

When Brass and Grissom saw Nick hesitate in the doorway, they both silently hoped that he would turn around and come back because he thought of another way out of this that both men knew didn't exist. But they still held their breath for that brief moment until Nick disappeared into the dark building. They turned to each other and exchanged worried looks that they knew everyone back at the lab shared.

All they could do now was trust Nick to make sure everything really did end up okay. All they could do now was wait.


	10. Way With Words

Warning: Very mature content in the next few chapters; language, violence and sexual content. All portaining to the story though of course. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

Nick forced himself to walk up the stairs as quickly as possible before he could change his mind. Truth be told, he was absolutely terrified of what could happen up there. He wasn't afraid for his own life as much as he was for Warrick's. He hadn't gotten the chance to apologize for what he had done to his best friend and prayed he would get that chance before it was too late. All Nick cared about was getting a chance to make things right and getting Warrick out of there alive.

Nick had made it to the second floor when he realized that he didn't know where he was supposed to go. He took out his cell phone, but didn't have any service. He sighed and slipped it back into his jeans before shrugging and going up the next flight of stairs. He glanced up and down the hallways he could see before he decided to keep going up. He was starting to wonder if he had been right about where Warrick was, even though he would bet a great deal that he was right.

He was just starting to get worried when he heard a door open somewhere down the hallway on the fifth floor. Nick turned around and squinted into the dimly lit hall. He could see the outline of a dark figure about fifty feet away, but he couldn't tell who it was. Taking a deep breath, he started walking towards it. When he was close enough the few lights in the hallway illuminated the figure, revealing who it was.

Warrick stood not ten feet away from Nick. He didn't look too pleased to see him.

"Are you okay?" Nick immediatly asked.

Warrick didn't answer. He just raised the gun he had in his right hand and asked a question of his own. "You set me up?"

Nick felt his heart skip a few beats. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Dave told me everything." Warrick said. "He told me how everything was a set up from the beginning. I can't believe I fucking trusted you."

Nick's head was spinning. He knew exactly what Dave was trying to do, but had no idea how to convince Warrick it wasn't true. He seemed pretty set on the fact that Nick was the bad guy in this whole thing.

"Why would I do that to you?" Nick asked.

Warrick shrugged. "I don't know." He was trying to buy time because he still hadn't figured out what was bugging him about the set up thing. He couldn't pinpoin it, but it was definitely there.

Nick shook his head slowly. "You don't really believe that. You know I wouldn't do that to you, no matter how much you hate me now. You know it's not true Warrick. Whatever he told you is a lie."

"What makes you think you know me so well as to say what I do and don't believe?" Warrick knew that sounded stupid, but he was still trying to stall.

"Because I'm not dead yet. If you truly believed that, you would have killed me already."

_Good point_, Warrick thought, but he didn't let it phase him. He still aimed the gun right at Nick and was deciding what to do when it hit him. He figured out what had been bugging him. It had been something Dave had said. Warrick remembered Dave telling Nick to try and save Warrick if he could figure out where he was. But if he was working with Dave and was in on everything, wouldn't he already know that?

Warrick lowered the gun. "You're not lying." He said, not only because he remebered what Dave had said, but also because he saw it in Nick's eyes.

"No, I'm not. I know I fucked up unbelievably bad before. I don't blame you for hating me, but I am sorry. There's nothing I can do to change anything, but I can fix this. This is my fault and I know how to fix it. I wouldn't be here if I didn't mean it."

"You gotta get outta here." Warrick said.

Nick shook his head. "No, I can't leave. He wants me, not you. I'll get you out of here and take care of this."

Before either one of them could say anything else they heard another door open from about fifty feet down the hall. Footsteps were fast approaching and it wouldn't be long before whoever it was was close enough to see the other two men standing in the hallway.

"Tie your shoes." Warrick said to Nick, who grinned.

Nick knelt down onto the stained carpet. He only flinched slightly when he heard the gunshots. He could feel the air rush over his head from the bullets whipping past. He stood when Warrick started running at him. Both men jumped into the wall for dramatic affect. Warrick dropped the gun onto the floor and stepped back just as Steve and Henry ran up to them.

"What the hell happened?" Steve asked Warrick as he took ahold of Nick.

Warrick shrugged. "I missed."

Steve seemed to accept that answer better than Nick thought he was going to. "Fine. I'm taking him to Dave...Henry, take Warrick back to Chris."

Nick was brought by gunpoint back down the hall the way he had come for only a few feet before he was shoved into a room. The room was more brightly lit than the hall, and it didn't take Nick long before he saw Dave. He was leaning up against an old dresser with his arms folded across his chest. He smiled when he saw Nick.

"Hello Nick." He said as the younger man was forced into a chair in the middle of the room. "I'm glad to see you're in better condition than the last time we met."

Nick didn't say anything. He just sat there in the chair and stared down at the floor, keeping his eyes away from Dave. He didn't need to turn around to know that Steve had his gun trained on the back of his head. Nick wasn't going anywhere, so he sat there as calmly as he could. He didn't want to talk to Dave. All he wanted, other than getting Warrick out alive, was to smoke a couple of the cigarettes in the slimming pack he had in his back pocket of his jeans.

"I'm actually surprised to see you. I figured Warrick would be able to take you out easily considering he hates you as much as he does." Nick remained silent, so Dave continued. "Ya know...I've been thinking a lot about our last encounter. And I think that kiss meant more than you intended. Why did you do it?"

Nick looked up at Dave. "Because I was hoping one of the cops would shoot you in your fucking head."

Dave laughed humorlessly at that. "You didn't want that. You don't want me dead, you wouldn't even be able to do it yourself."

Dave motioned to Steve, who pulled Nick up to his feet. Dave picked up the gun from the dresser behind him and tossed it to Nick, who easily caught it. Dave stood still and held his hands in the air.

"Come on Nick, prove me wrong."

The gun felt extremely heavy in Nick's hand, but that didn't stop him. He raised it and pointed it straight at Dave's head. Without the slightest hesitation he pulled the trigger, only to be met with the hollow clicking sound of an empty magazing. Dave's jaw dropped at the same time Nick's hand did. He let the gun slide from his fingers and just stared coldly at Dave.

The older man wasn't in shock for long. He was soon running at Nick full force with his hands outstretched until they collided with Nick's chest. The younger man stumbled backwards until his knees hit the edge of the bed, then he was laying flat on his back on the bumpy mattress.

Dave towered over him, glaring down at him with rage in his eyes. "You're gonna wish you didn't do that."

Nick had a feeling he was going to be wishing more than that.


	11. Majoring in Minors

Nick had been right about wishing more than what Dave had said he would. Right now, he wished that Grissom had let Brass lock him in a cell so he wouldn't be where he was. He should have expected this, but he had convinced himself it wouldn't happen so he would go through with his plan and get Warrick out alive. However, he would have to postpone the latter for the time being and worry about himself for once. 

Dave was letting all his frustration that Nick had caused him out all at once. He had handcuffed the younger man to the bed, making it easy for him to beat on Nick as much as he wanted, which was quite a bit. Nick could feel his ribs snapping and didn't have to look to know bruises were already forming on his chest. There was nothing he could do to defend himself because his hands were handcuffed to the bedpost above his head and his feet were tied to the bottom posts of the bed. Trying to free himself only made him tired.

Dave finally stopped punching Nick and stood straight up, fixing his shirt smugly. "I don't have a blindfold for you this time, but I think this will work just fine."

Nick didn't recognize what the little black bottle in Dave's hand was until it was too late to close his eyes. He felt the intense burning hit his eyes, which he immediatly closed. But the burning didn't stop. He felt it spread to the entire area around his eyes. The awful sensation reminded him of being attacked by the fire ants, and then he felt like he was back in the box altogether when Dave forced him to inhale the mace, causing him to feel like he was suffocating. Now he would easily be over powered by the older man, who had known that from the beginning.

Upon feeling a prick in his left arm, Nick tried to open his eyes but couldn't because it hurt way too much. He knew Dave was injecting some type of drug into him, and after only a couple minutes he figured out exactly what type of drug it was.

"This is my own special creation." Dave said, sounding pleased with himself. "Adding the stimulant cocaine to the Cialis makes it work much faster and last longer. I highly doubt you'll be able to make it stop."

Nick hoped that he had developed a tolerance to cocaine because of his own use, but unfortunately he had not. He felt the drugs affects kick in full swing soon enough, and there really was nothing he could do to stop them. He felt his jeans becoming uncomfortably tight and knew that Dave was going to be able to get anything he wanted. So Nick did the only thing he could do to try and escape, even though he knew it was useless.

He tugged on the handcuffs as hard as he could, ignoring the metal slicing into his skin and the warm blood flowing down his arms. He pulled even harder when he felt his jeans loosening and his shirt being lifted up. He squeezed his eyes closed tighter and clenched his jaw, but knew nothing was going to help.

* * *

Warrick heard Nick yelling from down the hall and could only imagine what was happening to him. He stood up from the chair he had been sitting in and took two steps towards the door before that Chris guy stepped into his way with his gun drawn. 

"Sit down." He said.

Warrick had no choice but to comply. Every time he heard Nick yell out in obvious pain he wanted to get up again and just run out of the room to help him. He remembered not too long ago when he hadn't felt anything when he thought about Nick getting hurt. He hadn't cared what happened to the other man because he thought he hated him. But now that Nick was here and he could hear him and knew there was nothing he could do to help, Warrick knew that he had never hated Nick. He never could.

After what seemed like hours, everything finally went silent. Silence hung in the air for a few moments before a door was opened and slammed from down the hall and foot steps echoed in the empty hallway before the door to the room Warrick was in flew opened and Dave entered. Sweat was glistening on his forehead and he had blood all over his hands and shirt.

Warrick was unable to move or say anything, Luckily, Dave finally spoke.

"Take him down into where Nick is. No one goes in, and they don't come out. I'll be back there later to deal with Nick for good."

Warrick was dragged to his feet and brought down the hall. Henry opened the door and motioned for Warrick to go inside, which he did. The door was shut and locked behind him with armed henchmen undoubtedly on the other side.

The sight before him was something Warrick would never be able to forget in spite of how much he wanted to. Nick was still handcuffed and tied to the bed. The deep cuts in his wrists were clearly visible with blood still flowing from them. His shirt was ripped, and the visible patches of skin underneath were scratched and bloody. His jeans had been carelessly tugged back up, still unzipped and unbuttoned. Nick's entire body was shaking violently and his breathing was strained and ragged.

Warrick hurried over to Nick's side, but once he got there he had no idea what to do. He decided first on buttoning and zipping his jeans, which was harder than it should have been thanks to the drugs still in Nick's system. Warrick's eyes landed on a small silver key on the nightstand just to his right. He grabbed it and quickly uncuffed Nick's wrists, which fell to land on his heaving chest.

Warrick ripped off strips from the sheets and tied them tightly around the cuts to make them stop bleeding. He then untied Nick's feet, freeing him completely. Nick kept his eyes closed and rolled to the side away from Warrick until he fell off the bed. He landed with a thud on the other side and it was only a few seconds before Warrick heard him throwing up everything he had in his stomach. Nick slowly got to his feet and stumbled backwards a couple feet before falling to his knees a yard in front of Warrick.

"Nicky..." Warrick said softly. He kneeled in front of Nick, who was swaying back and forth. "Stay with me man."

Nick let himself fall to the side, again landing on the floor. He shifted slightly and pulled the pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket, along with a lighter. He handed them to Warrick, who shook his head slightly.

"My hands are shaking too much." Nick choked out.

Warrick relactantly light the cigarette and handed it to Nick. The Texan took one drag of it before putting it against his arm and twisting it out in the middle of his forarm. He handed it back up to Warrick.

"Light it again."

Now that he understood what Nick was doing he was happy to help. He light the cigarette, handed it to Nick and watched him repeat the process. Nick flinched from the pain, but held it against his arm as hard as he could. He finally got the desired affect and dropped the cigarette and layed on the floor, still shaking.

"He gave me Cialis and cocaine." Nick explained. "I had to make it stop working."

Warrick nodded. "I know. But, he didn't..." Warrick trailed off, finding his answer in Nick's eyes. "Fuck." He said softly.

Nick laughed slightly. "Yeah, he did fuck."

For whatever reason, Warrick hadn't noticed the redness in and around Nick's eyes until just now. Recognizing what it was from, he got up and searched the apartment. He finally found what he was looking for and came back, kneeling in front of Nick again. But he had with him cooking oil and a wet towel.

"Close your eyes." He instructed, and Nick obeyed.

Warrick carefully poured the oil over Nick's eyes, which help the neutralize the burn caused by the mace. He then wiped away the oil and held the wet towel over Nick's eyes. Nick felt the burning go away almost completely and knew he would be able to see better than he had before. He started to relax a little and his breathing got closer to normal. Warrick removed the towel, and Nick slowly sat up. He looked at Warrick, most of the redness out of his eyes.

"You didn't have to do all that for me ya know." Nick said.

Warrick nodded. "Yeah, I did. You came here for me." He shrugged slightly. "It's what friends do."

Nick smiled slightly. "I can fix this. I know it's a good plan too because Brass wanted to lock me in a cell instead of letting me do it."

"That seems like something he'd do to you anyway just to keep you out of trouble. But I'm sure Grissom rationed with him." Warrick said with a laugh.

"I had to ration with both of them. That is no easy task. Neither one of them would let me go until I promised not to do anything stupid and not to be a smart ass."

"So they didn't want you to be you?"

Nick laughed. "That's what I said. They can be extremely difficult sometimes. I think it's in their job description or something because they're very good at it."

"Yeah, and I think we've started to pick up on it. We'd do the same thing to Cath or Greg."

Nick nodded in agreement. "That's true. We even do it to each other."

"I think it's safe to say we do it the best to each other." Warrick shifted so he was sitting down next to Nick. "Whatever happened before happened. It doesn't matter now. We gotta figure out how to get out of here, together."

Nick looked over at Warrick and smiled the way he does. "I'm up for the challenge."

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry if there was any confusion, but Cialis is a drug for erectile disfunction and Dave used it to be able to have sex with Nick. By burning himself with the ciagrette, Nick was able to make his erection go away.

Thanks for the reviews, next chapter should be up soon.


	12. Riot

"I know what to do." Nick said after a few brief moments of silence.

"What d'ya got?" Warrick asked, turning his attention to the man sitting on the floor next to him.

Nick slowly stood up, as did Warrick. "Go get a set of the handcuffs." He said.

Warrick frowned. "What?"

"Dave thinks you hate me. He wanted you to kill me, and probably still wants that. So we need to make it look like you hate me - which shouldn't be too hard - and then we can get outta here. You just need to handcuff me and beat the hell outta me for a little while until they come back in."

Warrick stared at Nick. "That is probably the craziest thing you've ever said. What do you plan on doing after they come back in here and you're all beat up cuz of me?" He asked.

Nick smiled. "You'll know when I know."

"That's not a good answer Nick."

As mad as he had been at the other man mere hours ago, now it seemed like nothing had ever happened between them. Warrick didn't care about anything that had been said or done. Regardless of everything he had gone back to his protective persona over Nick that he had had almost since he had met the other man.

"I know, but it's the only one I got. It'll work, trust me."

Warrick shook his head slowly. "I trust you, that's pretty much the whole problem. I trust you too much. Don't do something stupid. You're the only family I have. I don't have any brothers and I never had too many friends. I'm not losing you because you felt like doing something stupid Nicky."

Nick had already known everything Warrick had said to him prior to his saying so. "I know man...I promise I won't do anything stupid. It's sounds stupid, but it's gonna work. Just go with me on this."

Warrick sighed heavily before reluctantly going over to the bed and taking off a pair of handcuffs from one of the bedposts. He walked back over to Nick and looked at him for a minute before Nick held out his wrists. Warrick unfortunately had no choice but to take the sheets off of Nick's cuts. He put the strips in his pocket befre snapping the metal onto one wrist before Nick turned around and he fastened the other one, locking Nick's wrists behind his back. Nick turned back around and faced Warrick just as they heard faint voices in the hallway.

"Pretend it's like Fight Club." Nick said with a smile.

Warrick rolled his eyes as he slowly raised his fists. Nick nodded, and Warrick knew he had no other choice. Worse things would come if Dave knew that they didn't hate each other and were helping each other to get out. So he took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he swung with his right hand. He cringed when he felt it come into contact with Nick's face and could feel his orbital bone break. He opened his eyes and saw Nick stumble back a few feet before regaining his balance and standing still. Warrick knew he had limited time, so he got closer to Nick before punching him in his already broken ribs.

Warrick stepped back for a second as Nick spit blood from his mouth. The Texan then nodded and closed his eyes, waiting for Warrick to continue. The older man had to force back tears as he hit Nick again and again. The shorter man now had a cut in his left cheek along with one slicing through his right eyebrow. Warrick hit Nick in the chest and face once more before Nick couldn't catch his breath anymore and his head was spinning too much to stand. He fell back against the wall before slowly sliding down it. Warrick stared down at a bruised and bloodied Nick, blinking back tears as the door sung open.

"What the hell is going on?" Dave demanded.

Warrick turned around. He was able to fake anger easily, which surprised him. "You wanted me to kill him, right? I don't have a gun so I had to try my best at it like this." He held up his bloody hands, getting a satisfied smile from Dave.

"Good work." Dave said. He walked over to them, patting Warrick on the shoulder before squatting down in front of Nick. "You're finally gonna get what you deserve." He grabbed a fistful of Nick's hair and dragged him to his feet. He threw the injured man into the wooden chair still in the middle of the room before motioning to Steve, who had also come into the room with James. "Uncuff him."

Steve did so, tossing the metal cuffs to the floor. Nick spit more blood from his mouth and tries his very best not to pass out. He was beginning to regain control of his breathing and the room was spinning less and less with each minute that passed. He glanced over at Warrick, who was still fighting back tears and almost lost the battle when Nick looked at him.

"Warrick, come here." Dave instructed. Warrick slowly walked over and stood in front of Nick. Dave leaned down and picked up a gun from the floor and handed it to Warrick. "Kill him. Right now. Kill this motherfucking waste of a life."

Warrick kept the gun down by his side and stared down at Nick. He immediatly felt anger towards Nick for not being able to come up with a better plan. He had just beaten Nick up and was now going to have to kill him. Great plan. But then Warrick caught something in Nick's eye, that same look he had had before when he told Warrick to trust him. Nick nodded so slightly that only Warrick caught it.

Warrick raised the gun and pointed it straight in between Nick's eyes. He knew he couldn't hesitate any longer, so he held his breath and pulled the trigger. Everything slowed down to super slow motion. Warrick had never been so scared in his entire life as he was for that fraction of a second. When he heard that clicking sound and saw that Nick didn't even flinch, he sighed to himself and shoved the gun into Dave's stomach.

"It's emtpy." He said, stating the obvious.

Dave glared at Steve. "Weren't you supposed to reload this before you left them in here together? Do you know how to do anything?"

Steve remained silent. Dave went into a storage closet down the hall in the apartment and returned with a tank of gasoline. He didn't break his stride as he walked up to Nick and poured the whole thing over his head, drenching him in the flammable liquid. Nick spit over and over, trying to get the taste of blood and gasoline out of his mouth. He saw fear flash across Warrick's eyes, but remained calm.

"Think you two can handle them while I go get the fucking lighter?" Dave didn't wait for an answer. He stormed out of the apartment and disappeared from sight.

Steve and James drew their guns. James walked over to Warrick while Steve remained behind Nick. James moved Warrick back about five feet so he was farther away from Nick, but that didn't stop the other man from deciding now was the time. He shook his head slowly when Warrick looked at him and spit blood from his mouth again.

"Real fucking cool man, beating the shit outta me when I can't even defend myself."

"Why should you get to defend yourself? You shouldn't even be alive man." Warrick retorted.

"Shut the fuck up! Both of you, right now!" Steve yelled.

Nick stood up and took two steps before Steve grabbed his arm. "Yeah, I should be dead thanks to you. But I got out alive didn't I?"

Warrick also took a step closer, making James grab him. "You're just fucking amazing. An all around hero. I should just go over there and kill you with my bare hands."

"I may not be a Weseley Snipes, but I hold my own."

Without hesitation, Nick and Warrick both spun around and punched their captors in the face, catching them completely off gaurd. Steve and James lost their balance enough to be over powered by the other men, losing their weapons in the process. Nick and Warrick wasted no time in handcuffing them to the bed and taking the key with them. They ran out of the apartment and off in the opposite direction from the room where Dave and all of his other henchmen were. They didn't make it too far before they heard Henry yelling, followed by gunfire.

They made it to the stairwell and went up as fast as they could. They went up two flights before running down a hall and into an alcove that used to have a pay phone in it.

"Told you I knew what I was doing." Nick said with yet another smile.

Warrick laughed slightly. "Yeah, you're a genius. Thank God we've both seen 'Passenger 57.' "

Nick nodded. "Yeah, but we have another problem. They'll be able to smell the gas on me." He looked around before nudging Warrick. "Give me the lighter." Warrick complied and watched as Nick lit it and went into the middle of the hall under a sprinkler. He jumped up, holding the flame under the sensor. The sprinkler sprang to life, water bursting from it along with every other one in the hall. Nick stood under the water, letting it wash over his head and clothes before going back over to Warrick.

They sat there, debating what to do next. They were just about to get up and run some more when the power went out, resulting in total darkness. 


	13. Lights Out

Nick and Warrick both sat there patiently, waiting for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. Security lights flashed on in some places, but had long since gone out in others, giving the hallway an eerie glow to it that wasn't too helpful when it came to being able to see much farther than a few feet. The two CSIs looked at each other, neither one knowing what to do next. Nick absent mindedly handed Warrick the lighter, even though he really wanted to have a cigarette at the moment. Warrick slipped it back into his pocket before pulling out the strips of cloth he still had with him. He silently wrapped them securely around Nick's still bleeding wrists. Nick nodded his thanks before Warrick finally broke the silence. 

"Now what?" He asked.

Nick shrugged. "I have no idea. We can't get outta here without all of them coming after us. Brass can't send in his guys until he has a good enough reason to. They're too far away to know what's going on anyway."

Warrick nodded slightly. "So what does that mean?"

"We improvise." Nick answered with a smile.

* * *

James raced up the stairs, followed closely by Chris. The first floor they had gone up to the sprinklers weren't working, so they knew Nick and Warrick couldn't have been there. So they went up another flight where the water was falling rapidly and ran down the hallway away from the staircase. James stopped dead in his tracks about halfway down the hallway when he saw a door slightly opened and the carpet looking like it had recently been walked on it front of the door. James motioned for Chris to get ready and raise his gun, which they both did before James kicked in the door, his eyes searching frantically in front of him for their fugitives.

They didn't even have a chance to go inside the room.

Two loud gunshots rang out, followed by the thuds of James and Chris' bodies falling to the floor and laying completely still. Nick and Warrick wasted no time grabbing the fallen men's guns and running to the staircase on the other side of the hallway, not the one the had been hiding behind when James and Chris had come up. They both knew everyone else in the building would have heard the shots and were on their way, so they ran as fast as they could to the next floor. They were still unsure exactly how many guys Dave had on his side, but they knew they'd find out soon enough.

The two men ran around the corner of the hall that was perpendicular to the main hallway. They stood there and caught their breath before looking at each other. They didn't know what to say after what had just happened, even though both of them knew it was going to take more of that to get themselves out alive.

"Was that your first too?" Nick asked.

Warrick nodded. "Yeah. It feels so weird."

Nick didn't say anything else to keep the conversation going. More henchmen were undoubtedly on their way, and it was just a matter of time before they were found. He was trying to come up with an idea to get them out of the building in one piece. He was looking all around him, trying desperately to come up with something that could buy them more time from the footsteps they could now hear racing up the stairs towards them.

Nick and Warrick were nowhere to be seen when Logan, a new addition to Dave's crew, ran through the door onto the floor he had heard the gunshots come from. Ian, another newbie, had headed up another flight, so he was on his own. He was slightly nervous, but put that aside as he slowly made his way down the hall towards the other end. He knew enough not to waste any time checking every single room because that was next to impossible. So he moved forward, eyes open for the two men.

He didn't see Nick or Warrick anywhere. He didn't see anything anywhere. It was dark enough to make Logan think they could be around the next corner, but was light enough in some places to prove to him they weren't. He was just about to turn around and head up to find Ian when he heard glass breaking. He stood completely still and listened harder. He soon heard something rolling. It got louder by the second, inticing him to look to his left. He saw the red fire estinguisher coming down the hall from his left.

Logan frowned, not undestanding what was going on. He looked up, and that's when he saw Nick coming out of the dark down the hall. Warrick was right behind him, both of their guns raised. Logan had no time to raise his own weapon before Nick fired his. But he hadn't been aiming at Logan. The bullet struck the still rolling fire estinguisher right as it was only a foot away from Logan. It immediatly exploded, sending Logan flying back into the wall, killing him instantly. Nick and Warrick took cover in a room, where they were unharmed. After the blast they emerged and looked at the damages caused.

"They definitely heard that." Warrick said.

"Yeah. Should we go up or down?" Nick asked.

Warrick shrugged. "Down means out. More guys to take out, but we'll get outta here sooner I think."

"I'm with you." Nick replied.

They headed back down the hall and took a right into the main one. They reached the door and Nick was about the open it when Warrick grabbed his arm, stopping him. Nick turned and looked at Warrick with a confused expression on his face, but then he understood. He stood there for a second and then he felt it too. He felt the heat coming from the other side of the door and could smell the smoke.

"Fire escape." Both men said in unison.

They ran to the end of the hall and threw the window open. The cold night air rushed in at their faces, cooling them down slightly. But they didn't have time to stop and enjoy the fresh air. They climbed through the window onto the fire escape, closing the window behind them. Warrick kicked the ladder, sending it down all the way to the concrete four floors below them.

"I'll go first and see if anyone's around down there. If we can can out, Brass can send his guys in and they'll be trapped." Warrick said.

"Why do you have to go down?" Nick asked quickly.

Warrick smiled slightly. "Because you got to shoot the fire estinguisher."

Warrick stuck his gun in his jeans before slowly climbing down the ladder. He looked in the windows of the floors he passed and saw that they were filled with smoke and flickers of orange fire. So he continued down all the way to the first floor before he swung off the later and onto the metal platform outside the window.

Nick watched Warrick looking into the building, trying to see through the dirty glass. Nick was just about to climb down the ladder himself when he heard a gunshot and glass shattering. He froze, his eyes fixed on Warrick with his heart beating a million miles a second.

Warrick had only flinched slightly and didn't reach up to grasp the small cut on his right arm. The bullet had only grazed him, causing him barey any pain. He quickly drew his own gun and returned two rounds before lowering his gun and looking up at Nick. He nodded slightly, resulting in the Texan quickly climbing down the ladder and joining Warrick on the platform outside the second floor window.

Nick looked in through the broken glass and saw Ian's dead body lying in the middle of the hallway. He didn't let it phase him. "If we get to the end of this hall, all we have to do is go down the stairs and it'll take us right out the front door. Brass and Grissom are about a mile or so away waiting for us."

Warrick nodded. "Alright, let's go."

They knocked out the rest of the broken shards of glass and climbed in through the window. They were both completely exhausted and had barely any energy left, so they walked down the hall as quickly and quietly as possible, even though the previous gunshots had been noise enough. They had made it halway down the hall before they heard the gun cock and simultaneously stopped dead in their tracks.

Nick felt the gun pressed against the back of his head before he had time to turn around. Warrick turned so he could see both Nick and Dave, who was holding the gun to Nick. Nick looked at Warrick, his eyes yelling at the other man to run. Warrick knew what Nick wanted him to do, but he didn't budge. He stood there just as still as Nick, afraid to even breathe.

"Drop your gun." Dave demanded.

Warrick complied, unwilling to risk being the reason Nick's head got blown off. Dave grabbed the gun out of the back of Nick's jeans. Warrick saw Nick visibly flinch and the action and felt sick at the thought of why Nick had done so. He saw Nick's hand begin to shake and could only imagine the fear his friend had for the man with the gun. But Warrick remained calm and was relieved to see his calmness seemed to make Nick calm down a bit himself.

Dave pocketed Nick's gun in his coat pocket before speaking again. "You're both coming with me. You're both gonna shut the fuck up and do what I tell you. And you're both gonna die, although I'm afraid to say Nick will be getting more special treatment."

Nick clenched his jaw to try and make himself be quiet, but his efforts were futile. "Special treatment would be letting us go, not forcing me to have sex with you. That's getting kinda old by now don't ya think?"

Dave laughed humorlessly and pushed Nick forward and to the left, into a room. Warrick had no choice to but go as well, staying next to Nick. He wished Nick would just shut up, but at the same time had a feeling that Nick knew how to get to Dave and could figure out a way to use that to their advantage.

If anyone could do that, it was Nick.


	14. Shaking

After they were forced into the room and heard the door close was the first time Warrick got a really good look at Nick. It had been dark before and everything seemed to have happened so fast he hadn't gotten to notice the other man's face. Right below Nick's left eye was a deep cut surrounded by a dark blue bruise from when Warrick had hit him. HIs left eye was bloodshot and there was a crimson spot in the outside corner of his eye. Warrick doubted that Nick could see hardly at all out of that eye, or that he ever would again. There was a similar gash on his forehead, ripping through his right eyebrow. There were other bruises and cuts acorss the rest of his face and scractches down his arms, but that'd hadn't been from Warrick. 

Warrick had almost forgotten about Dave until the other man took a few steps forward. He still had his gun raised and had produced a rope from somewhere. He tossed it to Nick, who reluctantly caught it. He stared blankly at Dave, waiting for the other man to just get it over with and pull the trigger. Nick really wanted this whole situation to just end, one way or another. As long as Warrick got out, he didn't really care. His mind was set on doing something right and protecting his best friend.

"Tie him up." Dave said as he motioned to Warrick, then the metal chair in front of the bed.

Before Nick could say something sarcastic, Warrick went over and sat down. He folded his arms behind him and begged Nick with his eyes to just come over and do it without a word. Nick complied and even managed to keep his mouth shut. He wrapped the long rope over Warrick's wrists, between the bars of the chair and through the bedpost. He pulled it tight and knotted it. He paused for a second, not standing up. Before he did, he slipped an end into Warrick's right hand, leaving enough slack for him to be able to free himself when the time was right.

Nick straightened up and looked at Dave. "Satisfied?" He asked.

Dave smirked but didn't say anything. He walked over and stood behind Nick. Warrick saw Nick tense and stand rigidly still, all except for his still shaking hands. Warrick could see how hard he was trying to remain calm, but it was getting increasingly harder by the second. However, Nick ended up being glad that he couldn't see Dave. He didn't see the other man raise the gun and bring it down onto the back of his neck at the same time he kicked out Nick's knees. Nick fell forward so that he was now kneeling in front of Warrick. Since Warrick was sitting and was slightly lower than the Nick, the usually taller man was now eye to eye with the Texan.

"I think you know what I want you to do." Dave said simply.

Nick felt his heart drop for what had to have been the tenth time that night. "No." He immediatly said. "Fuck you, I'm not doing that."

Warrick didn't understand what Nick seemed to. "Do what?" He asked out of curiosity.

"I've changed my mind." Dave explained. "I want Nick to give _you_ special treatment. I think that'd be far worse for him, and all I want to do is cause him as much pain as possible."

Nick felt the gun dig deeper into the base of his neck. He looked at Warrick, their eyes unable to look away. Nick saw the fear in Warrick's eyes just at the mere thought of what Dave was talking about. Nick closed his eyes slowly and shook his head. He wouldn't have wished something that terrible on anyone, especially his best friend. The pain and panic that Nick had suffered was so unbearable he hated to even have to think about it. So he wasn't about to do it to Warrick.

"No." Nick said.

Dave hit Nick in the back of the head with the handle of the gun. "I don't think you understand." He said. "Either you do it to him, or I'll do it to you."

Warrick wished he could say something, but he didn't know what to say. He already knew what Nick was going to do. He had known it deep down all along. He just wished he could come up with an alternative, but he couldn't. All he could do was watch as Nick opened his eyes and glanced at him quickly before standing up and facing Dave. His hands were shaking harder and he looked paler than Warrick had ever seen him before. But his voice was steady as ever.

"Nothing you could ever do to me would make me hurt him. I know you're too fucked up to understand that, but whether or not you can, he's my best friend. He may hate me, but I can't blame him for it. So fuck you. I'm not afraid of you anymore."

Dave looked stunned for a second, but not too long. "You're not, huh? Then why are your hands shaking just like they did when you were fifteen? And just like every other time? You're scared to death of me. I have total power over you."

Nick shook his head. "No, you don't. I'll admit you used to. But not right now. I may be afraid of the dark, and glow sticks, and not being able to breathe. But not you."

Dave didn't seem to like that response too much. He showed it by punching Nick in the chest so hard that Warrick could hear part of Nick's sternum snap. Dave hit Nick in his pressure point where his shoulder meets his neck with the gun, causing Nick to fall to the floor. By the time Dave had kicked Nick in the chest, stomach, and ribs enough to have to stop to catch his breath, Nick was five feet from where he had started. He was now mere inches away from the wall, laying in front of the door to the closet. Warrick couldn't stop himself from thinking about all the internal damage Nick must have at the sight of the other man uncontrolable coughing up blood onto the floor.

Dave came back into the picture, and looked madder than ever. He seemed to know exactly what he wanted to do because he wasted no time in opening the closet door, moving Nick's arm with his foot so that the injured man's wrist was up against the door frame and slamming the door. Dave did it in such a swift motion that Warrick didn't even react to it. Nick didn't either. He couldn't yell out in pain because it hurt too much to even breathe. He flinched and tried to pull his arm back, but Dave was putting all of his weight on his right foot that was on Nick's left forearm. He slammed the door again, pulling it as hard as he could and stared down at Nick, enjoying his pain.

Dave finally let go of the door and stepped off of Nick's arm. He mindlessly tossed the gun behind him. It landed about six feet in front of Warrick, not quite close enough for him to make a move for it. Dave didn't seem to notice Warrick anymore. He pulled a knife from the back pocket of his pants and flipped it open to reveal the gleaming silver blade. Dave wordlessly dropped to his knees, stradling Nick's left leg. No matter how much he wanted to, Nick couldn't move at all. Everything hurt too much. He could no longer feel his fingers on his left hand and felt like he had a million knives sticking into his chest. Every breath he took only caused him pain.

"I'm glad I finally got you to shut the fuck up." Dave said.

Nick opened his eyes and shook his head. "After twenty years, you still can't even manage to do that."

Dave lashed out with the knife. The blade slashed through the cotton of Nick's still wet shirt and ripped across his skin. The large hole that stretched diagnolly across Nick's chest revealed the immeansely bruised skin. Blood flowed from the wound, adding to the awful sight. Warrick was too afraid to move to help Nick. Dave was holding the knife against Nick's neck, pressing as hard as he could. He leaned forward so his face was hovering mere inches above Nick's.

Before the older man could say or do anything, Nick spit the blood that had built up in his mouth at Dave, hitting him right in the face. Dave flinched at the unexpected action. His hand involuntarily moved so the blade of the knife sliced a vertical cut in the side of Nick's neck, barely missing his jugular. Dave wiped the blood of his face with the back of his hand and didn't seemed phased at the sight of Nick's newest injury. He just proceeded with his original plan.

Dave held the knife just below Nick's naval as he used his other hand to undo Nick's belt. He began to unbutt Nick's jeans, but he didn't get too far however. Nick managed to jerk his left knee upward, forcefully hitting Dave in the groin. Dave fell to the side, away from Nick. He was only down for a second or two before he stood and glared angrily down at Nick.

"You should have thought that one through." Dave said.

He turned his attention away from Nick and moved towards Warrick. Dave gripped the knife tightly in his hand, ready to use it. Warrick completely forgot that he could pull on the rope and free himself, even though that would take a couple seconds. He didn't have a couple seconds. It seemed to be happening in slow motion, but now Dave was only four feet away from him. Warrick pulled on the rope as hard as he could and felt the tightness loosen, but it wasn't enough. He pulled again, but then everything stopped. His heartbeat, Dave advancing towards him, and Dave's plan.

Dave had thrusted out with the knife even before he had been close to Warrick because he was so angry. He was so infuriated he hadn't noticed Nick pull himself up off the floor and move in between himself and Warrick. Instead of Warrick, the knife had been buried into Nick, just to the left of his rib cage. Everyone in the room was surprised. All except Nick.

Dave stood there, still holding on to the knife, for what seemed like forever. Then he got over his shock and spun Nick around, using the knife in the other man's chest to control him. The younger man couldn't hold himself up anymore. He fell to his knees once again. Dave went down with him, keeping a firm grasp on the knife. But Nick didn't pay any attention to Dave. He was looking over Dave's shoulder at Warrick, who still couldn't comprehend what had just happened.

Nick couldn't breathe anymore. He tried even though he knew it would hurt, but his efforts didn't pay off. No air went into his lungs and he could slowly feel the life draining out of him as the blood poured from around the knife. All he could do was look at Warrick, telling him with his eyes that everything was going to be okay.

"You're going into shock." Dave said to Nick. "In about two minutes you won't be able to feel anything, and in five you'll be dead. You should have just let me light you on fire earlier. That would have been **nothing** compared to this."

Dave leaned forward and was about to kiss Nick when he heard a gunshot. He was confused for a moment before he looked down and saw the blood starting to stain his shirt. He didn't feel the pain until he saw the blood. He stood up, stunned, drawing the knife out of Nick. The Texan gasped, all the oxygen he had left leaving his lungs. Dave stumbled back towards the far wall. He looked up, his eyes locking with Nick's.

Nick raised the gun and fired again. This time the bullet hit Dave square in the chest. He fell back against the wall and slowly slid down it. Nick pulled the trigger again and again until he was out of bullets. He finally dropped the gun to the floor where he had picked it up earlier after stumbling to the floor. He turned away from Dave and looked at Warrick, who still couldn't move. Nick forced a weak smile before his eyes closed and he fell to his left, landing on the floor.

Warrick quickly snapped out of it. He pulled on the ropes and finally pulled his wrists out. He crossed the floor and was over to Nick in a matter of seconds. He immediatly put pressure on the stab wound in Nick's chest as well as the cut on his neck. He was careful not to accidentally hit Nick's definitely broken wrist. The strips of white fabric on both of Nick's wrists were now completely red, the white overtaken by the blood stains.

"Wake up Nicky. Come on man, stay with me." Warrick pleaded.

Nick slowly opened his eyes. "You gotta get out of here." He choked out. "It's on fire."

Warrick had forgotten about that small detail. But it didn't change his mind about what to do. It only made him hurry up more.

"I'm not leaving without you." Warrick said.

He didn't wait for Nick to try and talk him out of it. He carefully pulled Nick to his feet by his waist. He pulled Nick's right arm across his shoulders and held onto his good wrist. Warrick in turn steadied Nick as best as he could with his left arm around his waist. Nick was able to walk with the support, but in a few minutes he would be unconscious. They had to move fast.

They were out the door to the apartment and almost at the stairs when they heard the sirens approaching. That was when Warrick could feel his heart start beating again. That was when he felt Nick go limp next to him. Warrick had no choice but to slowly lower Nick to the floor and lay him down. He pressed against Nick's worst cuts, trying his hardest to stop the bleeding. He could barely feel Nick's pulse beating. It was weakening with each second that passed.

"Just hang on Nicky. Brass and Grissom are coming. You're gonna be okay man just please hang on."

Nick didn't open his eyes. He didn't move at all. He was completely still as he softly said, "I'm sorry."

Warrick had barely heard it, but it was there. He felt the warm tears fall down his cheeks and did nothing to try and stop them. The lump in his throat made it hard for him to breathe. Nick's hands had stopped shaking, but his warm blood was still flowing against Warrick's hands. Warrick didn't care that he was covered in Nick's blood, or that the building was on fire, or even that he had killed two people. All he cared about was the man dying in front of him.

It seemed like years had passed in between when Nick had spoken and when the door at the bottom of the stairs flew open. The voices and noises the people were making sounded muffled to Warrick. All he could clearly hear was what Nick had just said. Warrick didn't move when Brass ran up the stairs, followed closely by Grissom and the LVPD force. He looked up and was only slightly surprised to see Grissom with a gun in his hand. The supervisior dropped the weapon and grabbed Warrick by the shoulders, pulling him out of the still burning building.

The younger CSI didn't try to stop himself from being pulled to his feet and away from Nick. Brass joined Warrick and Grissom outside as the paramedics flooded into the building. Warrick couldn't see up the stairs as they surrounded Nick and went to work on him. It wasn't long before they saw Nick on a stretcher, carefully being hurried down the stairs to the waiting ambulance. Warrick couldn't move a muscle when Nick was wheeled by him. His breath caught in his throat and the tears were still falling from his eyes.

As soon as Nick was out of sight, Warrick turned to Brass. He didn't have to say anything. The police captain nodded and lead the two CSIs to his cruiser. They silently got in, Warrick in the back, and caught up with the ambulance. Warrick closed his eyes, but no matter what he did he couldn't get the image of Nick on the floor dying out of his head.


	15. Do You Remember

Warrick couldn't remember the car ride to the hospital other than all he could see was Nick dying right in front of him. He didn't remember getting out of the car and mindlessly following Brass and Grissom to whatever floor they were on now, sitting in the waiting room. He couldn't remember anything up to the point where Catherine, Greg and Sara walked in, all with tears in their eyes. Warrick wished he could get up or say something, but he had no control over anything anymore. He felt completely numb and couldn't have said anything even if he had had something to say. He had no control over wether Nick lived or died, and that scared him more than anything ever had. 

Catherine sat down next to him and gripped his arm firmly. Sara was huddled against Grissom next to where Brass and Greg sat in complete silence. They all sat there, lost in their own thoughts, for what seemed like an eternity. No one said anything for almost an hour before the youngest member of the team finally spoke up.

"I think Hodges is still waiting for me to go get the results from him..." Greg said softly, more to himself than anyone else.

That elicited a chuckle out of everyone, even Warrick. "Hodges is one of the most impatient people I have ever met. He can sit it out." Grissom said, still slightly laughing.

Warrick nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that gets really annoying." He looked over at Greg and smiled. "Remember that time Nick had Judy announce that he had a visitor and did the test himself when Hodges was trying to figure out what was going on?"

Greg laughed, as well as everyone else. "Yeah, that was awesome. Hodges was so pissed off though. He tried to buy the video surveillance from Archie to hide from Nick. I'm pretty sure he's still pissed about that too, but that could be because he doesn't like Nick too much."

"He has some legitamate reasons to not like Nick though. Like that time Nick told him Grissom was going to ask him to go out into the field if he showed that he cared so that he'd leave Nick alone and bug Grissom." Catherine said.

Grissom frowned slightly. "That's why he was following me around? I should have known Nick had something to do with that."

Greg laughed. "Yeah, and all those times you'd go around turning off the stereos I turned on, Nick would turn them all back on. He basically followed you, turning on every one you turned off."

Sara joined into the conversation. "I remember watching him do that. Grissom was so confused as to why he was going around in circles trying to silence the lab."

"I remember when he let Lindsey help him check out a car and they were both covered in oil and grease, and his solution for that was going out back and having a water balloon fight. All that did was add a lot of water to the huge mess they already were." Catherine said with a smile.

"I remember that." Brass said. "That was the same day that he close to ten coffees because he had to pull a triple. He was so hyper I thought I was working with Greggo. I had to put him in my cruiser, which only resulted in him turning on the siren when Ecklie walked by. I thought Ecklie was about to have a heart attack, or kill Nick."

"I remember Ecklie bitching about that." Grissom said. "He tried to yell at Nick for that later at the lab, but couldn't find him because he was participating in the 3rd annual paper football tournament, which Ecklie made me late for."

"I still say he cheats." Sara said. "He never loses. He either does something to the football or practices at home on his days off."

"Neither one would surprise me." Brass said.

Greg shook his head. "He doesn't have time to practice paper football because he's always busy kicking my ass in Madden or Halo on his days off." He looked at Warrick, who nodded in agreement. "I swear he's a video game guru."

"Archie couldn't even beat him." Warrick added. "It's borderline insane."

"No, what's insane is what he comes up with when he's bored." Brass said with a laugh.

Everyone nodded in agreement to that. "You're right about that. He tried to see how close he could toss his cell phone to the fan without it getting hit. He almost broke the fan and his phone." Catherine said.

"Or the time he blew up a pot of the lab's coffee right next to Ecklie's car." Grissom pointed out.

"That was one of the funniest things I have ever seen." Greg said, on the verge of cracking up.

"Speaking of the devil..." Warrick said as he looked past Greg as the lab supervisior walked into the waiting room and over to them.

Ecklie held up his hands as he approached. "I am extremely sorry I have to do this. I'm worried about Nick too, but the sheriff sent me to inform you that he wants a direct statement from Nick as soon as he wakes up, and I'm supposed to get one from Warrick right now." Before anyone else could say anything, Ecklie continued. "I don't want to do it because I think it's stupid and rude to do it right now, but I don't have much say in it. So Warrick, could you give a half-assed one? Just minor details to keep him happy."

Warrick was surprised at Ecklie's rare showing of compassion, and was even more surprised that he wasn't mad that he had to give a statement. He had obviously expected it, but not so soon. However, he was mad at the fact that the sheriff expected one out of Nick. He wasn't going to let that happen.

"Yeah, I can do that." Warrick said, to the surprise of everyone else.

"Thanks." Ecklie replied. "I have to get back to the lab. Let me know any news. I'll stall the sheriff as long as I can for you guys."

He waved as he left, and everyone else waved back. They sat in silence for a moment and looked at each other with the same expressions on their face. They were surprised at Ecklie and mad at the sheriff for being so inconsiderate. They were even surprised that Warrick hadn't completely flipped out on Ecklie, even though it wasn't his fault.

Warrick sighed slightly. "Alright Brass, let's do this."

Brass nodded and took out his little notebook. Neither of the men stood to leave the room. They stayed right where they were, with the rest of the team surrounding them. Everyone else remained silent and held their breath as they waited for Warrick to start the story they knew would tear at their hearts bring tears to their eyes.

"Dave kept Nick in a separate room from me for a little while. I didn't even know he was in the building until one of Collins' men brought me into the room they were keeping Nick in." Warrick lied, but he didn't want to get into what him and Nick had discussed in the hallway.

"When I went in, Nick was handcuffed to the bed. His wrists were bleeding from the cuffs and his shirt was all ripped up. I took the handcuffs off and tied strips of the sheets to his wrists." He left out the part about zipping Nick's jeans back up because he was pretty sure everyone else got the idea of what had happened by the horror struck looks on their faces.

"Did Nick say anything?" Brass asked.

Warrick nodded. "He said that Dave gave him cocaine and Cialis with a needle I guess. And his eyes were bloodshot because of the mace Dave sprayed him with, so I poured oil over the burn."

Warrick had to try very hard to ignore the tears he could see flowing from Catherine's eyes out of the corner of his right eye. She squeezed his arm harder, not wanting to let go. He felt his own tears stinging his eyes as he went on.

"Then he made me handcuff him and...beat him up so that Dave would think we still hated each other. It was his idea, I swear. It's the only one he could come up with and we were running out of time-"

Brass cut Warrick off in the middle of his nervous rambling. "I believe you Rick. What happened after that?"

Warrick took a deep breath. "Dave came back in and uncuffed Nick. He put him in a chair and poured gasoline all over him. Then he left us with Steve and James I think and went to go get matches." Warrick skipped over where Dave had told him to kill Nick. "Then we pretended to yell at each other to distract Steve and James. Then we knocked them out, cuffed them to the bed and took their guns. We went up a couple floors before Nick set off the sprinklers."

Brass nodded slowly. "He did that before they set it on fire then." He thought out loud. "Skip the rest, we got the part with all the other henchmen. What happened when it was only you two and Collins?"

"He put us in a room and made Nick tie me to a chair against the bed. Then he told Nick to..." Warrick trailed off, knowing everyone understood. "He wanted Nick to do it to me or he would do it to him. Nicky wouldn't do it though. So Dave beat him up more, slammed his wrist in the door and cut Nick with the knife. He tried to...rape Nick again, but he kneed Dave in the groin. So Dave got up and went to kill me, but Nick got in the way."

The tears spilled from Warrick's eyes, down his cheeks. "He was trying to kill me, not Nick."

Warrick's statement ended there. No one else said anything. They just sat there, thinking to themselves, letting the silence take over. Catherine rested her head against Warrick and closed her eyes against the tears. Warrick rubbed the top of her hand that was still griping his arm. Warrick looked over at Greg, who smiled sadly at his older colleague. Warrick smiled back, trying to bring some comfort to his friend. Greg mimicked Brass' action of staring down at the floor to try and stop the tears from falling.

Warrick tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but to no avail. He wanted nothing more than for Nick to be perfectly fine and be able to stop thinking about how he had agreed to kill his best friend, only to have the other man save his life. Warrick felt greif and guilt overtake his heart, causing him immense pain that he knew he deserved.

The last thing he replayed in his mind before sleep took over was the last thing Nick had said to him.

_"I'm sorry."_

There was no way Warrick was going to accept that being his final goodbye with his best friend.


	16. Take a Look Inside

All of Warrick's weight was being supported by the doorframe he had been leaning on for the last hour. His left arm had gone numb all the way from his shoulder down to his fingertips, but he could not care less. He had long since developed a headache from staring through the small window into the dimly light room on the other side of the door. Warrick was hungry and tired and thirsty. But none of that bothered him half as much as what he was looking at through the window. 

Nick was laying in the hospital bed. His skin was almost the same shade of pale white as the sheets he was laying on. Warrick could only tell he was breathing because of the line slowly moving up and down on the monitor and the slight rise and fall of the tubes running in and out of Nick's chest. The Texan was shirtless, revealing the large bandage in the middle of his chest where the knife wound was. Nick's left wrist was in a cast, and the rest of his arms, shoulders and chest was covered in bruises and cuts. Even from where he was standing, Warrick could see the stitches under Nick's left eye. But the worst part of it was the oxygen mask over Nick's mouth. Seeing that only made Warrick aware of the fact that Nick wasn't in good condition at all and couldn't even breathe on his own.

Warrick didn't have to look behind him to know that everyone else had fallen asleep in the waiting room. They had gone quiet over a half hour ago, none of them able to stay awake anymore. Warrick wished he could fall asleep and when he woke up, everything would be fine. He wished he could sleep this all away and everything would just be a bad dream. Warrick wished everything was going to be fine.

Before he even realized what he was doing, Warrick reached out and opened the door silently. He shut it softly behind him and felt like someone else was controling his actions as he moved a chair beside Nick's bed and sat down in it. It wasn't until he was sitting that close to Nick that the impact of everything hit him. Everything came rushing back to him at once. Every single fight he had ever had with Nick replayed in his mind. Every word they had yelled at each other echoed in his head. Their recent fallout now seemed to stupid and insignificant to Warrick. He wished he hadn't yelled at Nick so much and done more to help his friend. Now there was nothing he could do. He couldn't help Nick. He couldn't find a piece of evidence or protect him from a crazy stalker pulling a gun on him. Warrick had no impact on whether his best friend lived or died.

Warrick felt completely helpless. All he could do was stare at Nick and think about all the things he could have said and done that could have saved him. He knew it would do him no good, but he couldn't help it. All the what-ifs took over and tortured Warrick, leaving him blaming himself for Nick laying where he was right now. Warrick wasn't stupid. He knew Nick was dying. He knew there was a better chance of him dying than living. But he also knew that he had never felt closer to anyone in his entire life and wasn't going to let it end like this. If it had to end, it was going to be how he wanted it to. He wasn't going to hold anything back. He wasn't going to regret anything.

Now that he was where he was, he couldn't think of anything to say. There were millions of things he wanted to say, but wanting to and actually doing something is completely different. Warrick's eyes fell from Nick's pale face to his right arm that was laying limply on the bed in front of him. He looked down at the small circular burn marks on the inside of Nick's arm. Knowing the reason for why Nick had had to do that made Warrick wish he had been the one to repeatedly shoot Dave Collins. But Warrick hadn't been the one to do that. He hadn't done anything to help Nick and would never, ever be able to forget that.

Warrick took a deep breath and let his mind voice everything he was thinking. "Hey Nicky." He started sadly. "I know you probably can't hear me, but it's worth a shot anyway. I know I said this before, but I don't care what happened before. Honestly, I think it was stupid of both of us, but mostly me. I shouldn't have said I gave up on you because I never did. I know it may have seemed like it, but I didn't. I never could. I said some stuff before that I didn't mean, and I wish I could just take it all back."

For the umpteenth time in the last twenty-four hours, tears started falling from Warrick's eyes. He fell silent as he eyes trained themselves on Nick. He kept willing the other man to wake up and stay awake. As he thought about everything they had been through, Warrick just couldn't accept that this could be it. He always knew that with a job like theirs something bad could happen at any second, he just never imagined it would be like this. Or so soon. Nick was still very young and had so much to offer. It killed Warrick to think about his best friend's life being over sooner than it should be.

After about twenty minutes, Warrick spoke up again. "I never did a good enough job telling you how much our friendship means to me. You're basically all I've ever had when it comes to family." He shook his head slowly. "This is all my fault..."

The more he thought about everything, the more Warrick felt like an older brother to Nick even though the Texan was only a year younger than he was. They had always been close and were always there for each other. He hated to think about it, but Warrick had no idea what he was going to do if Nick didn't make it. He now realized that he had never confided in his own wife after tough cases or just an all around bad day. It had always been Nick no matter what. Most of the time they never even talked much about what had happened. They would just watch a game or a movie, have a few beers and everything would be back to normal.

Warrick felt the lump in his throat growing bigger each second. It was making it hard for him to breathe, but he coulnd't take his eyes away from Nick. He hoped Nick had heard his apology and knew how sorry he truly was. Nick had risked his life to save Warrick, and what had he done? Handcuffed his best friend and beat him up. Even though it had been Nick's idea it still killed Warrick to think about it. He knew he was the reason for the stitches under Nick's left eye and the gash above his right one.

Warrick knew Nick was never going to be the same again after this. Who would be after so many awful things had happeneed in what seemed like such a short time. It felt to Warrick like it was just yesterday that he had yelled at Grissom for leaving Nick alone to get a gun pulled on him by Amy Hendler. But that was over six years ago. It had been two and a half since Nick had been buried alive, and a day hadn't gone by that Warrick hadn't thought about that night. He still had nightmares about Nick pulling the trigger.

He thought about how much Nick had changed since then. Warrick didn't really blame him, but that didn't make it any easier to accept. He immedialty hated himself for thinking it but for a moment Warrick wished Nick hadn't made it out of the box. If he had died down there, all of his suffering would have been over. But he knew Nick deserved better than that. He knew Nick didn't deserve to be killed by Dave Collins for trying to save his best friend either.

The longer he looked at Nick, the younger he seemed to appear. Warrick thought Nick looked much younger than thirty six, especially because of how skinny and pale he was. _He's only thirty six._ Warrick thought. His life isn't even half over and he's already gone through more than anyone ever should. Nick wasn't even married and didn't have any kids. That seemed so unfair that Warrick began to feel angry that someone had tried to take away a life that had so much to offer.

Warrick was jolted from his thoughts when he heard the door to Nick's room open and close softly. He pulled his eyes away from Nick and was only slightly surprised to see that Brass had entered. The police captain walked to the foot of Nick's bed, his suit wrinkled for it being worn so much and from when Brass had attempted to sleep in a chair in the waiting room.

"I should have shot Collins that night in the basement." Brass said quietly. "This should have never happened."

Warrick shook his head. "It's my fault, not yours. This all happened because of me. I should be the one dying, not him."

Brass locked eyes with Warrick, holding the younger man's gaze. "And what exactly do you think Nick would say if he heard that?" Warrick didn't answer. "Exactly. What he did, he did for a reason. He wouldn't have gone in there at all if saving you hadn't meant anything to him. Nicky wouldn't want anything different than what he did, which is why I wanted to lock him in a cell."

"I wish you did." Warrick said softly. "What if he dies?"

"He's not gonna die." Brass said so confidently that it surprised both men. "Nothing has been able to kill this kid yet, and I'll turn in my goddam badge if that son of a bitch Collins is the one to do it."

"He wanted me to kill Nick." Warrick said.

Brass visibly tensed at that. He held his breath and waited for Warrick to continue, hoping there wasn't a confession or anything on the way. He knew it was going to be bad, but to what degree? He refused to believe that Warrick would ever try to kill Nick, but so many awful things had happened in such a short time it was hard to be sure of anything anymore.

"I wanted to at first. Before he showed up. I was so fucking mad at him for everything that had happened. I thought it was completely his fault that we hated each other because he was acting so messed up. I was so scared after we saved him and just wanted him to be okay, but he wasn't. And neither was I."

"You're not gonna be perfectly okay again after almost losing your best friend." Brass said after he relaxed a little. "Nick knew you blamed yourself for what happened to him and that you felt guilty about it. That's what really killed him."

Warrick sighed. "I just want him to be safe. I want him to be okay and for everyone to stop fucking with him and let him be happy."

"That's why I tried to lock him in a cell." Brass said.

They both laughed slightly. Warrick looked back at Nick, and the broken eye contact inadvertantly made Brass do the same. Neither one said anything, but they were thinking the same thing.

_Nicky has to be okay._


	17. I Could Be Wrong

Warrick was contemplating whether or not it was worth it to go over and punch Sheriff Hindley in the face as hard as he could. The new Sheriff had been nothing but a pain in the ass since he had been instated four months ago. And now he was in the waiting room of the hospital, trying to force Nick's doctor to wake Nick up so he could get a statement from him. The only thing that was keeping him from doing so was Catherine's grip on his arm and the mini-baracade Brass, Grissom, Sara and Greg had formed to keep him at bay.

Brass was only holding Warrick back to keep himself from going over and hurting Hindley himself. Grissom and Greg were more worried about their friends attacking the Sheriff than doing it themselves, but Catherine would have if she hadn't had to restrain Warrick.

"I don't think you understand." Doctor Marx said. "I can't just snap my fingers and wake Mr. Stokes up. You're going to have to wait until I clear him as being stable enough for an interrogation from you, which I don't have to do. So please, kindly leave before I have you removed."

Hindley was not happy that his authority hadn't immediatly intimidated the doctor, who was used to it by now. "Do you understand who I am?"

Warrick snapped. "Yeah," he yelled over to Hindley. "You're an arrogant son of a bitch who thinks he can do whatever the fuck he wants because he has a badge. Just leave Nicky the hell alone and get outta here."

Everyone, including Warrick, was surprised when Hindley didn't respond and actually left. He glared coldy at Warrick and the five people keeping the CSI from attacking the Sheriff. Once he was out of sight, everyone relaxed and Catherine let go of Warrick's arm. They all turned their attention to Dr. Marx, who had walked up to them with an annoyed expression on his face. He sighed heavily before addressing them.

"I'm sorry for that disturbance." Marx said.

Warrick tried to act like it didn't happen. "Do you know when Nick will wake up?"

Marx shook his head slowly. "It's hard to say. He's breathing on his own, which is a very good sign. It could still be some time before he has enough energy to wake up."

"But he's going to be okay?" Catherine asked, voicing the question that was on everybody's mind.

"As far as I can tell right now, yes he is. We've stopped all of the internal bleeding and we were able to repair everything that had been damaged. He's very lucky that we were able to do so because there was an immense amount of damage done to his ribs, but somehow neither of his lungs had been punctured. The only long-term problems I can see will be his breathing and seeing out of his left eye because of the breaking of his orbital bone." Marx explained.

Warrick cringed at that. He knew it was his fault Nick might not be able to see out of his left eye ever again. He knew he was also responsble for some of the damage to Nick's ribs as well and couldn't be thankful enough that nothing worse had come out of that. Warrick zoned out while Grissom and Catherine were asking Marx more questions. His attention drifted off to Nick's door and Warrick found himself wishing he had X-Ray vision so he could see Nick. He was hoping that Nick would look perfectly fine, like he had before this whole ordeal. Warrick knew that was impossible, but he still wished for it.

He was drawn away from his thoughts by Catherine tugging on his arm. "Warrick?" She said to get his full attention.

"Yeah?"

"Did you hear what Dr. Marx just said?"

Warrick shook his head, so Marx reiterated.

"Mr. Stokes has suffered a broken sternum. It's not badly broken, but enough to cause some concern. We didn't fix it because it can heal perfectly fine on its own, but the break is putting strenuous pressure on his heart. We ran some tests and there's part of his heart is becoming weaker and weaker. This is because of the pressure, but we can't be sure of how long it'll be before it heals."

Warrick nodded slowly. "So, what does this mean?"

Marx sighed slightly. "We can do one of two things. We can leave it alone, and let it try to heal on its own and risk Mr. Stokes having a heart attack. Or we can do open heart surgery to the problem in his heart and put his sternum back in place."

"Which idea do you think is better?" Warrick asked.

"It's tough to say. They both have severe risks that could end up fatal. Either way you look at it, he doesn't have enough energy to handle a heart attack or complications after a surgery like that. If everything goes well with the surgery he'll be fine. But one little temporary problem could kill him." Marx said gravely. He paused for a moment before saying, "You have his power of attorney. It's up to you."

Warrick only thought about it for a second before answering. "Do the surgery."

"Are you sure?" Marx asked.

Warrick nodded. "Positive."

He didn't wait around for anyone to try and talk him out of it. He knew that this carried the greatest risk, but he wasn't going to sit there and not try to help Nick. If the surgery was a success, everything would be fine. Warrick had to at least try to do something right. He didn't hesitate as he walked into Nick's room and over to the chair still next to his bed. He sat down and took a deep breath before speaking.

"I don't know if you can hear me man, but if anything happens...I just want you to know everything. I'm sorry for every bad thing that has ever happened to you. I understand that they weren't all my fault, but that still doesn't mean I didn't want to change all of it. I would do anything to erase everything that has ever happened to you because you didn't deserve any of it. You were wrong when you said I gave up on you. I never did, I just got scared."

Warrick choked back tears and continued. "But you were right about everything you said about Tina and Catherine. I was so scared after what happened to you, I barely thought. I should have known by now to listen to you all the time. And I wanted you to know that I wanted you to have this surgery because I thought it was best. I just wanna help you Nicky."

Warrick had nothing left to say, so he fell silent and stayed by Nick's side until the nurse came in to take him into surgery. Warrick filled out the necessary papers before returning to the waiting room where he was surprised to see the whole team was still there. No one had left, even after almost twenty-four hours.

"Nick picked the right person to chose for him." Sara said as soon as they saw Warrick come back in.

Grissom nodded. "No one else could have made such a confident decision."

Warrick smiled his thanks and sat down in his seat next to Catherine. She took his hand and rubbed his arm soothingly.

"He's gonna be okay Warrick." She said softly.

"He will be." Brass agreed. "Nicky's not going out this easy."


	18. Long Road to Ruin

For the entire time Nick had been in surgery, Warrick had been perfectly planning everything he was going to say to Nick when he was awake. He felt that what he had said before wasn't good enough and wanted to say everything he needed to. The now seemingly stupid fight they had had before needed to be taken care of and put behind them. The reasons for why they had been fighting in the first place seemed to insignificant now that Nick had almost lost his life. Again. 

Luckily, Tina hadn't been home when Warrick returned to shower and change before heading back to the hospital. Warrick was glad she wasn't there and wasn't the slightest bit worried about where she was. He knew it sounded harsh, but he didn't give a damn where she was or who she was with right now. It wasn't important to him, which was just another sign that he should have listened to Nick a long time ago and come to terms with his true feelings, not the ones he forced because he had been scared. Warrick remembered when he had actually tried to blame his actions on Nick, even though he knew it wasn't Nick's fault he had been kidnapped and buried alive.

When Warrick returned to the lab, the whole team was standing in the middle of the waiting room behind Grissom, who was toe-to-toe with Hindley, Ecklie at his side. Warrick felt his heart beat increase and he hurried over to Grissom's side, standing next to his supervisor in front of Ecklie and Hindley. The Sheriff looked livid, whereas Ecklie looked more apologetic than anything. Hindley faltered a little when he saw Warrick join in, but stood his ground.

"What's going on?" Warrick asked Grissom as he glared at Hindley.

"Sheriff Hindley is trying to dismiss Nick because he thinks he violated departmental policy and advertantly disobeyed orders from Captain Brass and entered a hostage situation without the proper training and endangered a life of a fellow CSI." Grissom explained, barely able to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

"Which is total bullshit." Brass said matter-of-factly.

Hindley scoffed. "No, it's not. Our findings support that, and I've come to the decision that he was looking to do more damage than not, and the only thing I can think to do is dismiss him so he doesn't make another stupid decision that results in someone getting killed."

"With all due respect sir, you don't have the authority to dismiss him. He wasn't arrested for a crime, and he can't be by the evidence we collected. It was self defense, nothing more and nothing less." Ecklie said, surprising everyone. "But, as Assistant Lab Director, I myself have the authority to bring this to the director and DA if I feel it's necessary. These dealings are in my power, not yours."

Hindley slowly turned to Ecklie angrily. "Are you telling me you're going to disobey my commands?"

"Seeing as how they hold no weight, yes, I am." Ecklie said defiantly.

Warrick whisteled dramatically. "Wow. Now, if Ecklie's willing to put his neck out on the line for Nick, what do you think the rest of us are going to do? Sit back and let you fuck up our team because you aren't getting your way?" He said.

"You can't just fire him." Greg chimed in. As the youngest memeber of the team, he knew his opinion didn't matter much, but that wasn't going to stop him.

"And why not?" Hindley asked. It was evident he was going to do everything in his power to accomplish what he felt needed to be done.

"Because if you do, I go with him." Warrick said. "If you fire Nick, I quit."

"Me too." Catherine immediatly said, stepping up next to Warrick.

Sara and Greg simultaneously stepped forward as well. "Us too." They said in unison.

Brass pushed his way forward as well, standing on the other side of Warrick with Grissom to Warrick's right. "I'll even give you back my gun." He said with a sly grin.

Hindley shook his head. "You're all bluffing. You wouldn't give up such great careers to save Stokes."

"Try us." The entire graveyard shift said in altogether.

"Grissom, try to talk some sense into your team." Hindley said in annoyance.

Grissom shrugged. "I tried doing that so many times, it's not even worth it anymore. I don't know why they all like each other so damn much, but its grown on me too. If there's one thing I do know, it's that you would be the stupidest man in the world if you lost the best CSI team in the country. And yes, we would all seriously leave."

"I don't believe you." Hindley said simply.

"You don't understand." Warrick said. "We're not just a team, we're a family. Ecklie broke us up before, and that only lasted a year before he had to put us back together. We solve more cases a year than any other shifts combined, and we actually really like each other. You will never, ever get a better team than us. So don't fuck with us."

Hindley was at a loss for words, so he turned to Ecklie, who was grinning. "I can't do anything about it either." Ecklie said. "All I can do is assure you that if they all leave, I'll no longer have a job for allowing it to happen. So you'd lose your police captain, supervisor and best CSI team we've ever had. But I can see how this is a tough decision."

Ecklie then ignored Hindley and turned to Grissom and his team. "I have to get back to the lab and make sure your stand-ins aren't still plotting Hodges' death and keep them working. Let me know how it goes as soon as you get a chance."

Ecklie then turned and left, eliciting a wave from the graveyard shift. "Thanks Conrad." Grissom yelled after him.

Hindley's prescence was soon forgotten when Dr. Marx walked up to them, a smile tugging at his lips. He ignored Hindley and shook hands with Grissom and Warrick before ushering them over to the side slightly where they all took a seat.

"I have good news." Marx started. "The surgery went as well as it could have. However, we did have trouble starting Nick's heart back up after the surgery was done."

Warrick felt his heart drop and his breath catch in his throat. He couldn't breathe until Marx continued, explaining what this meant.

"It's not as bad as it seems. All it's going to do is cause swelling around where we had to make the incision, which was to be expected anyway, and discomfort for a couple of days. He's not going to be able to sleep very well, or eat. He's going to be extremely tired and worn out, and since he can't sleep we're going to have to keep him here to monitor his blood pressure and heart rate for a couple of days."

Warrick took a deep breath as he nodded in understanding. "But he's going to be okay?"

"I think so. He may have some minor seizures because of the fatigue and pain, but they shouldn't be too violent or cause any damage. He is, however, going to be very jumpy and out of it, which is why I'm keeping Sheriff Hindley as far away from him as possible."

"That's a very good idea." Grissom said. "What about long-term affects?" He asked.

Marx shook his head. "None that are obvious right now. But because of this surgery and everything else he went through, he's going to get tired easier and run down a lot. And it's also very important that he quits smoking."

Grissom looked at Warrick, who looked down at the floor. The supervisor hadn't known Nick smoked, just like Warrick hadn't either. But now they both knew, and they both would do everything in their power to make sure Nick did in fact quit. Warrick was just glad nothing else about Nick came out in the open, like his drug habit or his overall destructive behavior he had become fond of recently. Those things didn't need to come out because Warrick was going to handle it himself, whether Nick liked it or not.

"You can go in and wait until he wakes up, which should be within the hour." Marx said.

They stood and shook hands again before Marx left and Grissom returned to everyone else with Warrick. No explanation was needed because they had all be listening intently to what had been said. There was also no need for argument over who would be going in to wait with Nick.

All the things he had planned to say were immediatly forgotten when Warrick walked into Nick's room and was met with Nick's eyes locking with his own.

* * *

Sorry for the minor cliff hanger. Next chapter should be up soon. Thanks for the reviews everyone, they mean a lot.


	19. But Honestly

Warrick was surprised to see that Nick was awake. He wished he could make his muscles work or that he could say something, but nothing came to mind. From where he was standing, Warrick could see that Nick was shaking slightly and was even paler than he had been last time Warrick had seen him. The Texan's bare chest bore two bandaged spots; one from where Dave had stabbed him and the other from the surgery he had just had. The surgery incision was in the middle of his chest, whereas the stab wound was lower and closer to Nick's left rib cage. The other cuts and bruises that were scattered over Nick's chest seemed so minor compared to the other two that really stood out. 

Warrick was finally able to move, so he took the opportunity to make his way over to the chair that was now on the left side of Nick's bed. He sat down in it without a word, and almost immediatly wished he hadn't. From this angle, he could now see the bandaged cut on Nick's neck from where Dave had inadvertantly cut him. Remembering that happening made Warrick's stomach churn almost as much as the fact that Nick's eyes hand't followed him over to the chair. He was staring at the door Warrick had come through silently, his only movement the uncontrolable shaking of his body.

Nick was afraid to look at Warrick because he didn't have anything to say. Words couldn't explain how sorry he was for everything he had done to his best friend recently, and though he had promised to fix everything, he just didn't know how. He was still convinced that Warrick hated him and was afraid he had irreparably ruined their friendship. That thought scared Nick more than the thought that he could be dying right now and not even know it because he just woke up. He wasn't afraid to lose his life. He was afraid to lose everything else.

Warrick finally got tired of the silence and spoke up. "How are you feeling Nicky?"

Nick couldn't stop himself from turning his head to the side and looking at Warrick. The action caused pain to shoot through his neck where the wound was, but he ignored it. He remembered what Grissom had said about Warrick calling him 'Nicky' and took this as a good sign.

"I don't know." Nick answered honestly. His voice was scratchy and sounded battered, like his body.

"The doctor said the surgery was a success. You're going to be okay."

Nick frowned slightly. "What surgery?"

"You had uh...open heart surgery." Warrick said. Nick didn't say anything, so he elaborated. "Your sternum was broken or something, and that would have possible caused you to have a fatal heart attack. Or you could have had the surgery, which could have killed you also because you're so weak and everything."

"You had to decide, didn't you?" Nick asked softly.

Warrick nodded slowly. "Yeah, I did. I figured the surgery was best because it would fix everything that was wrong the fastest. I couldn't wait to know if you were going to be okay or not any longer. The waiting was brutal."

Nick shook his head slightly. "You're not mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you?" Warrick asked.

Nick sighed. "Because I was an awful friend. I drank, smoked, did drugs, picked fights with you as much as I could and tried to tell you what to do with your life."

"But then you saved my life." Warrick said. "I said before, what happened with us happened. It happened because of a lot of things, but I don't care because it doesn't matter to me. I still love you like a brother man. That's gotta count for something."

Nick smiled. "I guess it does." He looked down at his sheets and his smile faded. "I'm sorry for everything Warrick."

"I am too." Warrick responded. "But what's done is done. It's over with, and I just wanna put it behind us. If I have to lose my best friend, it's not gonna be over some stupid fight we got in because we're both too stubborn to admit when we're wrong and expect the best from each other."

"I couldn't agree with you more on that." Nick said. "I wasn't scared that I was gonna die, I was scared that you were still gonna hate me for everything I've done."

"I could never hate you." Warrick said. "I should have never just sat back and let you do what you were doing to yourself. You needed my help and I let you down. It was just as much my fault as it was yours, so technically we're even."

"You're gonna except a tie with me?" The Texan asked skeptically, a smile tugging at his lips.

Warrick shrugged. "If I have too, I guess. It's better than us going back to fighting cuz then we both lose."

Before Nick could say anything, they heard voices in the hallway yelling outside of the hospital room. The clearest ones were Brass and Grissom, who were obviously not pleased with whatever was going on. Warrick saw Hindley before Nick did, so he made a point of warning his best friend.

"Don't say anything Nicky." Warrick said a split second before the door opened and Hindley walked in, slamming it behind him.

Nick jumped slightly at the sudden loud noise and felt a pain in his chest when his heart started beating faster. He tried to take a deep breath, but it only made his chest feel tighter and his ribs hurt more. So he didn't do anything and just laid there silently and wished he would stop shaking sometime soon.

"You need to give me a statement Stokes. Now." Hindley demanded.

Warrick shook his head. "He can't sir." He said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "He lost his voice from all the smoke inhalation, and see that bandage on his neck? He got cut so bad he can't speak until it heals. Sorry man."

"You're lying. I'll suspend both of you while I'm proving that Stokes should be fired anyway."

Warrick could tell Nick was about to say something sarcastic and in the current situation stupid, so he pinched Nick's arm so that Hindley couldn't see but so Nick would know to just shut up. He complied reluctantly and just glared and Hindley, trying to say whatever he had wanted to say before with his eyes.

"Trust me Hindley, he would have said something by now if he could. He's not exactly a quiet guy." Warrick explained.

The door burst open again, but this time Brass and Grissom came in with Catherine, Sara and Greg close behind. The room quickly filled up, and for some reason Nick began to feel nervous. He had no idea why because these were his friends, but his heart beat was still faster than it should have been and he was having trouble breathing. He slowly began to calm down, and only flinched slightly when Grissom yelled at Hindley. Only Warrick had seen him flinch.

"Get the fuck outta here Hindley!" The supervisor said in a tone no one else had ever heard him use.

Every single person in the room, including Grissom, were so surprised by what Grissom had just said that they all went silent and just watched. No one had ever heard or seen Grissom get so upset to the extent that he used language like that. He very rarely swore, and when he did it wasn't as bad as that. Warrick and Nick were usually the ones who got yelled at by Catherine for swearing too much.

"You better watch it Grissom, or I'll throw you and Brown out on your asses along with Stokes." Hindley threatened.

Brass scoffed. "That threat isn't getting you anywhere pal. We don't give a shit if you fire all of us, we'd rather be unemployed than work for a jackass like you."

Nick had to try very hard not to laugh, and doing that proved to be just as hard as trying to be quiet. He was laying as still as possible, but still couldn't get his body to completely stop shaking. He looked over at Warrick, who looked back at him with both amusement and worry in his eyes. Of course none of them wanted to leave their jobs, but they definitely would if they had to. Warrick silently told Nick to keep his mouth shut. Nick rolled his eyes and fought back a sigh.

"Can't you just let him recover? He just had open heart surgery for God's sake! He'll give you a statement when he's feeling better." Catherine snapped.

"And when he can talk." Warrick added, recieving puzzled glances from the rest of his team. "After the damage from the cut and smoke inhalation is gone and everything."

The rest of the team nodded slowly in agreement once they caught on to what Warrick was doing, but Hindley still didn't buy it.

"You're clearly trying to protect him because he did something wrong, again." Hindley said coldly.

Nick couldn't take it anymore. His chest hurt, his ribs hurt, and his head was starting to hurt worse from all the yelling and absurd comments Hindley was making. He didn't want his team to get in trouble for trying to cover for him and he knew he could handle Hindley on his own. Besides, it wasn't exactly easy for Nick to just sit there and not join in on a good argument, especially one that was about him.

"Shut the fuck up Hindley." Nick said before anyone could stop him.

"Oh, so you can talk? I was right."

"No, you're still wrong. I pretended I couldn't talk so I wouldn't have to talk to Warrick because we almost got killed. But my team's not trying to protect me because I didn't do anything wrong."

Hindley glared at the injured CSI. "So you didn't ignore departmental policy and go into a hostage situation by yourself? And you didn't kill seven people and try to leave CSI Brown to die before you passed out and almost got both of you killed?"

Nick shook his head. "What the hell are you talking about? I didn't ignore anything. Dave Collins wanted to meet with me, so I met him. I didn't try to leave Warrick to die, I was trying to get him outta there alive."

"And he didn't kill se-" Warrick started, but Nick cut him off.

"But I did kill those seven people in there." Nick said. "It was out of self defense, whether you believe me or not."

Warrick looked at Nick, but the other man didn't look back. Warrick tried to tell the truth again, but Nick wouldn't let him get a word in.

"I'm sorry I didn't fuck up bad enough for you to fire me, but you're just gonna have to deal with it. I didn't do anything wrong. That's my statement."

"So you just think you can all yell at me until I leave you alone and this whole thing is going to go away?" Hindley said, addressing the entire team, but the conversation was now between him and Nick.

"I know it's not going to go away." Nick responded. "Nothing that ever happens to me just goes away. I was raped, beaten, almost raped again, beaten some more and then stabbed. I almost had to watch my best friend be killed right in front of me, then I had open heart surgery. All the bullshit just won't go away."

Hindley shook his head slowly. "Don't try to get me to pity you Stokes. It won't make me feel sorry for you."

"The very last thing I want right now is for you to feel sorry for me. What I really, truly want is for you to get the hell out of here and never speak to me, or my friends again unless it's absolutely necessary and is of great importance. You have no need to be here right now, so leave me the fuck alone." Nick said coldly.

Hindley was more than slightly taken aback by what Nick said. "Don't think there's not going to be a formal investigation as to what happened in that apartment building. I'll find out the truth, mark my words."

"You're gonna find out exactly what you already know because I told you what happened. But if it makes you feel better, waste time and money proving me right. It's not gonna change anything."

Hindley had no rebuttle, so he glared at everyone in the hospital room with hate in his eyes before storming out, slamming the door once again. Nick jumped again and felt his heart rate go back up.

"Why the hell does that keep happening?" He asked in annoyance.

Warrick frowned. "What?"

"I feel weird. I keep jumping and flinching, and it makes my chest hurt. Am I gonna have a heart attack or something?"

Grissom shook his head. "No, you're not. You're just gonna feel a little out of it and be on edge for a little while as a side-affect of the surgery. You're gonna be really hungry but have no appetite, and be very tired but won't be able to sleep."

Nick sighed. "Well at least Hindley's gone. Thanks for sticking up for me guys."

"It would have been easier if you had just shut up." Greg joked.

Warrick nodded. "Yeah man, why can't you ever just be quiet and sit still?"

Brass threw up his hands. "Why do you think I wanted to lock his ass in a cell?"


	20. Partner in Crime

"Nick?" 

Nick jumped, almost dropping his coffee cup he had just poured the steaming liquid from the pot into. If he had been holding it in his now extremely weak left hand, he surely would have. But luckily he had switched it to his right before he had turned around, a split second after Ecklie came into the break room.

"Yeah?" Nick replied, trying not to sound jumpy.

Ecklie pretended he didn't see Nick jump and didn't push the matter. "I hate to do this to you again, but Hindley has finally finished his formal investigation."

Nick sighed in relief. "Finally. It only took him three months. How was there enough evidence to process? It's not like I left him any witnesses."

"That's one of the reasons he took so long. He was determined to find a wrongful death and throw you in jail. But of course he was unable to do that. Now that's he finished and proved himself wrong several times, he's admitted it but refuses to apologize to you and anyone else. So he's having me wrap it up with you."

Nick was surprised at how sincere Ecklie sounded. The lab's assistant director and Nick had a well known track record for disliking each other, but now they were getting along civilly. Nick would even go as far as to say he was starting to warm up to Ecklie, and the other seemed to be doing the same thing.

"As Hindley wishes." Nick said sarcastically, eliciting a chuckle from Ecklie.

Nick followed Ecklie back to his office, abandoning his coffee on the break room counter. Ecklie went around to his desk and Nick sat in the chair in front as he tried to hide the fact that his hands were shaking. He had no idea why they did and could never seem to make them stop. They would start to tremble and all of a sudden he'd feel nervous and on edge for no reason. That scared him and only resulted in making him even more nervous. It was an agaonizing cycle that seemed to only be getting worse for him.

"Okay..." Ecklie started. "I just have a few quick questions to wrap it up, then we're done with this."

Nick nodded silently.

"Collins told you he wanted to meet you, and you knew where to go. Correct?"

"Yeah. I thought he wanted to apologize for what he did to me earlier. I didn't know what he was planning to do to me, or that he had Warrick where I was supposed to meet him."

Nick was clearly lying, but Ecklie didn't call him on it. Nick knew Ecklie could tell, and smiled slightly when he saw the older man writing down what he had just said. He knew Ecklie knew the whole truth, but obviously hadn't told Hindley or anyone else about it. So they were re-writing what had happened to make it less complicated and keep Nick out of jail for things he didn't have a choice in.

"Was Warrick with you when you defended yourself against Collins' men?"

"No. He was already in the room with Collins. I had to get through all the henchmen before I got there and got Warrick out. That's when Collins stabbed me and I shot him with his own gun that he dropped."

Ecklie nodded slowly. "So Warrick never even had a gun, and therefor didn't kill anyone?"

"That's right." Nick said after a slight pause.

Ecklie scribbed for a second on his notepad before looking back up at Nick. "At the hospital, the doctors confirmed what happened, with you and Collins, so we don't need to get into that."

Nick couldn't explain in words how grateful he was that Ecklie brushed past that, not pushing the matter or inquiring into it at all. It was very sympathetic of him and was a gesture that Nick would never forget.

"Just one last thing." Ecklie said, keeping the conversation flowing. "Did you light the building on fire?"

Nick shook his head. "No, I think Collins did. Or one of his men. I was a few floors above them and they knew I was there. I guess they were trying to smoke me out or something."

Ecklie wrote that down before dropping his pen and smiling slightly. "Okay Nick, that's it. Thanks for being so calm about this and not murdering Hindley. That would have been harder to cover up than this." Ecklie leaned forward a little bit. "I have a pretty good idea of what really happened, and I just wanted you to know that you really didn't do anything wrong. You did what had to be done and what no one else would have the guts to do."

* * *

Warrick watched Nick carefully from the A/V lab. The Texan was in the lay out room, looking over clothes from the victim's house of their case. Nick had seemed extremely tired and out of it at the scene, and from the way he looked right now Warrick could tell he wasn't feeling alright. Nick was slightly swaying on his feet and was very pale. He looked like he was having trouble beathing and seemed to be trying very hard not to clutch his chest and fall over.

"Hey Archie?" Warrick said, turning to the A/V tech.

"Go ahead." Archie replied, already knowing what Warrick was going to say. "I'll finish this up and get you an ID on this guy."

Warrick clapped Archie on the back on his way out. "Thanks man."

He walked across the hall and into the layout room, around the table and over to Nick just as his friend's eyes closed and his knees gave out. Warrick stepped forward quickly so that Nick fell against him. He manuvered Nick into a chair and held him upright by his shoulders. Nick's eyes snapped open a moment later, and a look of confusion flooded across his face upon seeing Warrick.

"What the hell happened?" He asked.

"You just blacked out and collapsed. Almost. I caught you in time."

"Thanks." Nick mumbled.

Warrick looked at Nick worriedly. "You need to go to the hospital man. You haven't looked too hot all day."

"I'm fine." Nick said.

"No, you're not." Warrick said firmly. He pulled up a chair and sat beside Nick. "You could have hit your head and died or something Nicky. You can't fuck around with this, it's serious. If you don't feel well you gotta get it checked out."

Nick shook his head slowly. "I'm sick of that. I'm sick of almost dying. I hate going to the hospital all the time because something else is wrong with me. If I'm gonna die, I want it to just be over with. I have no energy left anymore because I've come close to dying so many times I can't stop myself from trying to give up."

"Well you better try harder not to. You've come so far, it's a waste to throw it away now. You're finally starting to get over everything whether you realize it or not. You haven't smoked or drank in three months. You stopped with the cocaine too and don't need all that either. You're getting better Nicky."

"I'm only getting better to set myself up for another break down." Nick sighed heavily. "Isn't it just easier to get it over with now? I feel like I'm prolonging the inevitable all the time."

Warrick shook his head. "You're thinking too much, and you know it. I feel like an ass for doing it, but while you were still recovering I came to you with a problem. I told you all about how Tina was cheating on me, and then we got divorced. I didn't know what to do. If I didn't have you, I would have gone completely insane. You had been right the entire time, and because of you I finally came to grips with it. How do you think that would have turned out if you hadn't been around?"

Nick smiled slightly. "Not too well I'm guessing."

"You would guess correctly." Warrick said. "So do me a favor. Stick around for a little while, for me. Because I swear to God if I go crazy and you're not here to snap me outta it, bad things are gonna happen. Believe that."

Nick's smile only lasted another second or two before it was gone. "I just keep thinking it's gonna go away. Or kill me. But it never does. I don't know what to do anymore."

"Well you're doing a pretty good job improvising man." Warrick said.

"No I'm not." Nick said, shaking his head slowly. "Everything always affects me in negative ways. When we were pissed off at each other, you didn't act like I did. You didn't drink and smoke and do drugs to try and kill yourself. You could handle it rationally. I can't. I don't know why, but I just can't do anything right."

"It's because you care so much." Warrick said, answering Nick's question. "That's your strength, and your weakness. You care so much about everything you do, and you knew what that stupid kidnapping was doing to us. We were both trying to fix it, just in different ways."

Nick smiled slightly again. "And neither one of our ways worked."

* * *

Warrick tried not to stare at the scars on Nick's chest when his friend took off his shirt in the locker room to change into another one. But the harder he tried, the harder it was not to look at them. The scar in the middle of his chest was in the shape of an X where the doctors had performed his open heart surgery. Then below that and a little to the right was the vertical scar from the knife Dave Collins had stabbed Nick with, almost killing him. Warrick didn't even notice the other, smaller scars on Nick's chest and stomach from wounds he had been inflicted with in the apartment building three months ago.

"Hindley finally finished with his investigation." Nick said as he tugged his dark blue t-shirt over his head and threw his grey one into the locker.

Warrick smiled. "How pissed was he that he was wrong?"

"So pissed that he wouldn't even come down here himself. He had Ecklie do the wrap-up with me. Hindley refuses to apologize to me, or you guys. But now he'll probably do anything to avoid us, which is absolutely fine with me."

"Me too." Warrick said as he nodded in agreement. "So you're sure you don't wanna go to the hospital?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just gonna go home, eat something and watch TV. I'll be fine."

Warrick sighed. "You just used 'fine' too many times, so now I have to drive you home and stay with you in case you pass out again. But I guess it won't be so bad hanging out with you cuz the playoffs are still on and everything."

Nick smiled. "If you insist."

An hour later, the two friends were sitting on Nick's couch, drinking iced tea and watching the baseball games. They were waiting for their pizza to come, but didn't care how long it took whatsoever. They were more concerned about their team winning so they would have bragging rights, even though neither one of them particularly liked the team they were rooting for.

None of that really mattered. Warrick's divorce didn't matter. What happened in the apartment building didn't matter. Their fight months earlier didn't matter. The only thing that did was that they were two best friends, hanging out and watching the games like they always did.

They were both willing to do anything in their power to keep it that way.

* * *

Thanks for the reviews. Next and final chapter should be up soon. 


	21. Decembers

This chapter takes place eight years later. Italics indicate flashbacks. Enjoy.

* * *

Warrick watched his six-year-old son playing in the backyard with Lindsey from the kitchen window. He took another sip of his coffee and wished he had been able to force his son to put a sweatshirt on before he went outside. He was unable to convince him, so he had given up. Lindsey, now twenty-one, knew enough to wear a jacket against the chilly late Las Vegas afternoon. She was home for the holidays and was, as always, happy to be back with her family. 

Warrick heard the front door open, but he didn't feel the need to turn around and see who it was. He knew exactly who had just come through the door and would be able to figure out each person to come through for the next hour as guests arrived for Christmas dinner. Warrick was taking another sip from his steaming mug as Catherine sat down next to him at the table, smiling at him warmly.

"Hi honey." She said, leaning in and kissing him lightly on the cheek. She looked outside and saw Lindsey playing with her son, and even though she smiled her voice was still somewhat concerned when she said, "Why doesn't he have a sweatshirt on?"

Warrick shrugged. "He doesn't listen to a damn word I say. He refuses to believe that anything bad will happen if he keeps going outside without a jacket or anything on. I guess he's just gonna have to learn the hard way like I did when I was a kid."

"Yeah, and you turned out great." Catherine said teasingly. She got up from the table and made herself a cup of coffee, then returned to the table and sat next to her husband. "Grissom said that if you let Greg carve the turkey again, he's not coming."

Warrick laughed. "I didn't let him, it was totally out of my hands. He had the knife, and I wasn't going to fight him for it. Like Grissom would ever pass up your turkey anyway. He knows better."

"That's true, he just wants to seem like a tough guy." Catherine said, her smile widening.

Warrick finished the last of his coffee and looked at his watch before looking back up at Catherine. "I'm gonna go see Nick before everyone else gets here. I'll be back in a little bit."

Catherine nodded slightly and smiled at him one last time. Warrick smiled back, grabbed his jacket and went out the front door.

* * *

Warrick parked his car in the same spot he had been for the last seven years. As always, he was the only one walking through the green grass toward his friend. The cold air bit it his exposed neck, but he didn't zip up his jacket anymore. He shoved his hands in his jeans' pockets and kept walking, keeping his head up and squinting slightly at the sun in his eyes as it started to go down behind the trees at the edge of the cemetery. 

Exactly twenty-three steps later, Warrick arrived at Nick's grave. He sat on the bench directly across from it that the lab had bought and put there with Nick's name engraved on it. The bench was cold, but Warrick had gotten used to that. He had gotten used to every kind of weather; it never stopped him from coming. Every day, even if it wasn't at the same time, he came to see Nick. If he had to, he'd spend his lunch or break sitting on that bench because that was the promise he had made.

To never let go.

"Hey man." He said softly, his breath becoming visible in front of his mouth. "I swear this place gets colder and colder every year you're not here. It wouldn't surprise me if it were true either." Warrick took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I still haven't gotten used to it being this time of year and not having you around. I remember that first Christmas after I got divorced and we drove all the way to LA for the Laker's game, and made it back for dinner at Catherine's. That was clutch man. Now I gotta put up with Greg and Grissom fighting over the turkey and Brass eating all the pie on me." Warrick shook his head slowly. "Nothing's the same without you anymore."

* * *

_Seven Years Ago_

_Nick was honestly starting to wonder if he had something about him that attracted bad things to him. Out of all the days in a year, and all the banks and casinos to rob in Las Vegas, what's the odds these criminals would pick today, at that bank, and to rob it then? __Whatever the odds were, Nick knew they weren't good. But apparently they were good enough, because it was happening at that very moment._

_Four guys wearing black ski masks came running through the doors with machine guns. They quickly took out the security guards and cameras and managed to get everyone in the bank at the time to one side, away from the doors and windows, which they locked. There was only five people in it at the time other than Nick, and they all looked terrified. Nick was too preoccupied with making fun of the bank robbers in his head to be worried right away._

_When the bank robbers figured out that this newer bank had a system that automatically locks down when the security cameras are shut off, they were more than pissed off. They grabbed the two young tellers from behind the counter and threw them over with the rest of their hostages, now totaling eight._

_Nick looked at the people around him. A young girl was crying against her dad's shoulder. The father couldn't have been older than Nick; he looked barely out of college. Two teen-aged girls were huddled against each other, silent tears streaming down their faces. An older woman, probably twice Nick's age at least, was trying to remain calm but slowly losing the battle. The male teller was trying to keep his legs from shaking and was consoling his female colleague at the same time._

_"Hey, you."_

_Nick looked over at the bank robber who had spoken to him. "What?"_

_"Why don't you look scared?" He asked._

_"Because I'm not." Nick answered. "You guys have no idea what you're doing, and you won't kill anyone. It's way too risky, and you know it."_

_The man who had been speaking to Nick stepped forward and stood right in front of him. "Wanna make a bet on that?"_

_Nick shrugged. "Seeing as how you're the one with everything to lose, sure. I bet that if you let every single person in here go, except me, you still won't do anything."_

_"What the hell are you talking about?"_

_Nick motioned to the rest of the people. "Come on man. This guy and his daughter, this nice old lady, and four teenagers. You're telling me you're gonna hurt them because you messed up?"_

_"If we have to, yes."_

_Nick shook his head. "But you don't have to. Let them go. I'll stay here and cooperate. You don't need all of us, just one. I'm a CSI, I work with the police. They'll negotiate with you." Nick lied, fully knowing that they can't and won't._

_The man with the gun scoffed. "You're the one with everything to lose. Your life doesn't matter to you?"_

_"Is that how you want this to turn out? Go talk it over with your buddies over there. Let them go and keep me, you'll still have the power." Nick said._

_The bank robber did just that, leaving the hostages to themselves once again. The little girl tugged on her dad's shirt to get his attention, and he looked down at her._

_"Daddy, he's trying to save us."_

_Her father smiled at her, then looked at Nick. "Yeah, he is. Why?"_

_Nick smiled back, but didn't answer. All four bank robbers walked over to their hostages, and the man who was apparently in charge spoke up again._

_"The cops are outside. They go, you stay." He said, pointing to Nick with the he gun. "And the kid too."_

_Nick immediately shook his head. "Hell no. Let them all go."_

_"They won't storm the building if they know there's a kid and a cop in here. You both stay, or you all die."_

_The little girl climbed out of her dad's arms and stood next to Nick. She took his hand in her smaller one and looked back at her dad, the tears gone from her eyes._

_"It's okay daddy, he'll protect me. We'll be okay, you go be safe now."_

_Two hours later, they were still trapped in the bank. Nick had talked to Warrick, Grissom and Brass several times in that time period, but barely any progress had been made. The bank robbers wanted to get off free, and that just wasn't going to happen._

_"I'm Jess." The little girl said to Nick._

_Nick smiled at her. "I'm Nick."_

_"We're gonna be safe, right?" She asked, a tint of fear in her voice._

_Nick nodded. "You will be. I promise."_

_Nick was about to fall asleep like Jess had against his side, but a cell phone was thrust into his hand and interrupted his plans._

_"Hello?"_

_"We're coming in in five minutes. Hang tight man, we're gonna get you outta there." Nick heard Warrick's voice say on the other line. "I promised you I wouldn't ever give up on you, and I'm not letting go now."_

_Exactly three minutes and forty six seconds after that telephone call, the man in charge stormed over to Nick and Jess, grabbing the child by her hair and yanking her up._

_"They don't wanna give us what we want, we'll give them a dead body."_

_Nick lunged forward and pulled Jess back against him. "Leave her alone. You don't even have the guts to kill a kid." _

_Nick's eyes darted to the doors and windows, where outside he could see Brass getting his guys ready to go into the building. Beyond that, he saw Jess' father looking on, worry etched all over his face. He saw Grissom standing with Warrick, Catherine, Greg and Ecklie. They all had the same expression on their face, but despite that Nick smiled slightly to himself._

_Nick knelt down next to Jess and whispered in her ear, "When I say 'go', i want you to run as fast as you can to the door and keep running until you get to your dad, okay? Don't stop no matter what."_

_Jess nodded slightly._

_Out of the corner of his eye, Nick saw Brass move._

_He stood up, pushing Jess behind him so she was out of sight from the bank robbers._

_He threw his cell phone at the far wall, adverting their attention that way. _

_"Go!" Nick yelled, and Jess ran._

_The doors burst open, and Jess sneaked out of them, by Brass and the other officers. She bolted across the street and into the arms of her waiting father._

_Nick felt the pain in his chest before he even heard the gunshot._

_The other gunshots he didn't hear._

_He didn't feel his body fall to the cold tile floor, but he did see Warrick's face hovering over his own, followed by Jess' father's._

_"I can't thank you enough." Jess' dad said, and then his voice was replaced by Warrick's as Nick's eyes closed._

_"Come on Nicky...stay with me. Don't let go. I'm not letting go."_

* * *

Nick died en-route to the hospital. Warrick could still distinctly remember the feeling of Nick's hand going limp in his own and hearing the paramedic pronounce his death right in front of him. That moment, the wake, and the funeral had all been surreal. He hadn't been aware of where he was. He was thinking about all of his memories with Nick, the most recent his wedding where Nick had been his best man. But now his best friend was dead, and it hit him that first time he visited Nick's grave.

Warrick remembered yelling at Nick at the top of his lungs for leaving him on his own with a wife and a kid on the way. He didn't know what he was going to do without him, but Nick managed to help him without even being there. Things he used to say and do flooded back to Warrick, and he used that to get him through that first year without his best friend by his side all the time.

Before he knew it, Warrick was back home, pulling into his driveway moments before Greg, Grissom and Brass arrived. They all entered the warm house together with smiled on their faces.

"Dad!"

Warrick heard his son call and grabbed him as he ran at him from the kitchen, picking him up easily. "Hey buddy, what are you up to?"

"I was trying to help mom make the cookies, but she made me stop because I kept eating all of the cookie dough."

Warrick laughed. " 'Atta boy Nicky." He said, bringing his son into the kitchen and setting him down on the counter.

"Where did you go?" Nick asked his father.

"To see your uncle again." Warrick answered.

Nick nodded slowly. "What was he like anyway?"

"Nick?" Grissom asked, and the six-year-old nodded. Grissom laughed. "He was pretty much just like you are, but taller and with a Texan accent."

"Would he have liked me?" Nick asked.

"You guys would have been like best friends." Warrick said with a smile.

Nick smiled as well. "I bet I would have liked him too."

Everyone took their seats at the table, and the food was served. They immediatly dug into the delicious meal prepared for them. They fell into their usual banter about work and whatnot, but Warrick didn't say much. He just listened to what his friends were saying, ocassionally glancing up to the picture of him and Nick on the wall next to the picture of him and his son. Every time he saw Nick smiling, he smiled.

And even though things weren't the same without him being there, in a way, he would always be there.

* * *

Thanks to everyone who read this story, and a special thanks to those of you who reviewed. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. 


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